Death at the Seaside by Frances Brody. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher, Piatkus, included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a fan of mysteries and thrillers. So, when Piatkus contacted me about taking part in the blog tour for Frances Brody’s latest novel, Death at the Seaside, I jumped at the chance.
Nothing ever happens in August, so it seems like the perfect time for sleuth Kate Shackleton and her colleagues to take a break. Shackleton heads to Whitby to catch up with an old school friend Alma Turner.
What was supposed to be a relaxing holiday turns out to be anything but for Shackleton. First she stumbles across a crime at the local jewellers’ then she discovers that Alma’s daughter Felicity has disappeared leaving only a note and the pawn ticket a watch-guard behind her.
Are the crime at the jewellers and Felicity’s departure from Whitby related? Where has Felicity gone? What has Alma’s gentlemen friend and jeweller Jack Phillips got to do with it all? And how far will a town go in order to keep its secrets? When the town closes ranks, Kate Shackleton turns to her colleagues for help.
Death at the Seaside sits firmly in the cosy mysteries category. If you like your crime fiction with a hard edge, this isn’t the book for you. I really enjoyed it. The story is a slow burner, but it was well paced with enough strands to the story to keep you guessing as to what will happen next.
There is something special about mysteries set in close knit communities and Frances Brody captures it well. I felt like I was in 1920s Whitby. While experiencing things from an outsider’s point of view, I got a good sense of how the residents of Whitby felt about the events that were unfolding. That is often a hard thing to achieve, but Brody got the balance just right.
Death at the Seaside is the eighth book in the Kate Shackleton mystery series, but they work as standalone novels. Death at the Seaside explores the dynamics of life in a small town and how newcomers and outsiders are perceived, especially once a crime has been committed.
About the author
Frances Brody is the author of the Kate Shackleton mysteries, as well as many stories and plays for BBC Radio, scripts for television and four saga, one of which one the HaperCollins Elizabeth Elgin Award. Her stage plays have been toured by several theatre companies and produced at Manchester Library Theatre, the Gate and Nottingham Playhouse, and Jehad was nominated for a Time Out Award.
Death at the Seaside by Frances Brody is published by Piatkus part of the Little, Brown Book Group and is available in paperback and ebook format.
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