ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Shell House Detectives by Emylia Hall

The Shell House Detectives by Emylia Hall is published by Thomas & Mercer and is out now. I purchased my own copy.

Welcome to the coastal paradise of Porthpella, where murder lurks among the dunes…

Late one night, a distraught young man knocks on the door of retired and recently widowed Ally Bright’s remote home on the Cornish coast. But before she can make sense of his confused words, he’s gone―not to be seen again until he’s found the next morning at the foot of the nearby cliffs.

In an instant, the peace of Ally’s beachcombing life is shattered. Feeling responsible for the young man’s fate, she wants to help find answers―as does ex-cop Jayden Weston, whom Ally meets at the scene. He shares her certainty that there’s more to the story than attempted suicide. When it emerges that the man is newly released ex-offender Lewis Pascoe, and that Helena, the wealthy new owner of his grandmother’s home, has subsequently disappeared, the tight-knit community of Porthpella is thrown into turmoil.

Driven by their need to know more, the duo decide to investigate the mystery together. Is there a connection between the Pascoe family’s tragic history and Helena’s disappearance? And if there is a killer stalking Porthpella, do Ally and Jayden have what it takes to catch them?

The Shell House Detectives are Ally Bright and Jayden Weston. They hadn’t intended to become detectives but the story leads them into solving a local mystery. Ally is a long-time resident of Porthpella in Cornwall, living in a weatherboard house in the dunes (which I thought sounded like absolute perfection). In the midst of a personal loss, she is taken aback one night when a young man comes to her door. When that man is later found at the bottom of the cliffs and Jayden, a former policeman, is one of the first on the scene, he and Ally end up trying to work out what happened to him and how he’s linked to a missing local woman.

I thought Emylia Hall’s prose was beautiful in this book. It’s clear how much she loves Cornwall and beach life. Whilst this book may be deemed to be something of a cosy mystery, it’s got a lot more warmth to it and is a very thoughtful piece of storytelling, about grief and loss, companionship, and about greed and jealousy. There are a few thoroughly unpleasant characters but mostly there are likeable ones, superbly well-drawn and who felt like old friends by the end of the book. I really liked the local beat bobby who was a bit of a buffoon but with a little polishing could turn out quite well.

I adored the whole setting of the fictional Porthpella, Ally’s house and the little beach café in particular, but the small seaside village feel too. I’m going to get myself a copy of the second book in the series now, The Harbour Lights Mystery, as I definitely need a return visit to Porthpella.

Emylia Hall lives with her husband and son in Bristol, where she writes from a hut in the garden and dreams of the sea. The Shell House Detectives is her first crime novel and is inspired by her love of Cornwall’s wild landscape. Emylia has published four previous novels, including Richard and Judy Book Club pick The Book of Summers and The Thousand Lights Hotel. Her work has been translated into ten languages and broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. She is the founder of Mothership Writers and is a writing coach at The Novelry.

You can follow Emylia on Instagram at @emyliahall_author and on Twitter at @emyliahall.