Murder at Gulls Nest
A Novel
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- USD 14.99
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- USD 14.99
Publisher Description
WSJ's Best Mysteries of 2025
From Jess Kidd, the bestselling author of Things in Jars who “is so good it isn’t fair” (Erika Swyler, nationally bestselling author), the first in a cozy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside town after her pen pal mysteriously disappears.
I believe every one of us at Gulls Nest is concealing some kind of secret.
1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent.
A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kidd (The Next Ship) pivots to cozies with this delightful series launch about a nun who forsakes her vows to search for a former novice. In 1954, Sister Nora Breen's friend and former trainee, Frieda Brogan, abruptly stops sending her letters. Frieda's last known address is the Gulls Nest, a forlorn boarding house in the English town of Gore-on-Sea, and a frightened Nora asks to be released from her monastery after 30 years to track Frieda down. Nora takes a room at the Gulls Nest, ingratiates herself with its ragtag collection of boarders, and soon realizes she's not the only one concealing a secret past. As she starts to dig into Frieda's stay there, other boarders begin to die under unusual circumstances, making her wonder whether Frieda might have met a similar fate. At first a thorn in the side of Detective Inspector Rideout, who's assigned to investigate the deaths, the intelligent and outspoken Nora gradually gains the policeman's respect. Elegant prose, vivid characterizations, and a fascinating protagonist add up to a thoroughly enjoyable mystery. Readers will be eager for the sequel.
