Death at the Seaside, A Kate Shackleton Mystery by Frances Brody

Kate Shackleton: private eye, widow, boss, friend, and godmother – a woman of many parts. And alongside a cast of colourful and well-drawn characters all these parts come into play in this entertaining mystery. From Kate’s school friend Alma Turner, now a fortune teller, to Mr Cricklethorpe, flamboyant panto dame and artist, there is no shortage of potential murderers when a local jeweller is killed. In fact even Kate is held in suspicion to the extent that she has to spend a night in the cells. Sergeant Garvin, the local police constable, is out of his depth and things only start looking up when the dashing Chief Inspector Marcus Charles of Scotland Yard arrives to take over the case. Of course he and Kate have some history, which can’t be allowed to interfere with the solving of this tricky case. Will she beat him to it once again?

 I’ve always liked Whitby and it is fun reading books set in familiar places. ‘Death at the Seaside’ immerses us into life in a Yorkshire seaside town in the 1920s. The author Francis Brody, has created a lively and historically sensitive backdrop which includes the dilapidated mansion her childhood friend Alma and her daughter Felicity, Kate’s goddaughter live in, the narrow cobblestone streets, underground smuggling passages and the windswept abbey above the town. You can almost taste the fish and chips and feel the bracing sea breeze.

Cosy crime meets historical crime - Rainy night, comfy sofa, bag of chocolate biscuits and a Francis Brody, what more can a girl want?

Frances Brody

Published by Piatkus in 2016, Death at the Seaside is the eighth Kate Shackleton mystery. The previous book, A Death in the Dales, was longlisted for the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger. The first six Kate Shackleton books are also available in the US, where A Woman Unknown was shortlisted for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, an Edgar award of the Mystery Writers of America. 

(Indiana Brown)