The Shell House Detectives (A Shell House Detectives Mystery Book 1)

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The Shell House Detectives is a hug of a book that is transporting and full of love, with a humdinger of a mystery at its big heart." - Amanda Reynolds Emylia’s writing career began in 2012 with the coming-of-age story The Book of Summers. It was one of the bestselling debuts of the year and a Richard and Judy Book Club selection. A Heart Bent Out of Shape followed in 2013 and The Sea Between Us in 2015. The Thousand Lights Hotel was published in 2017 and was chosen by Fearne Cotton for her Happy Place Book Club. Altogether, Emylia’s novels have been translated into 10 different languages. The Shell House Detectives is brilliant because it has heart and soul as well as entertainment, making it sensitive, gripping and compelling. Don’t miss it. About Emylia Hall I’m always drawn to water, so whenever I need that fix, I head to the harbourside. Living in Southville, I love that Ashton Court is so close too: having such a vast green space on our doorstep feels like a gift, especially as I get a lot of my ideas when I’m out walking. Whenever I can, I disappear to Cornwall for writing retreats – sometimes with a friend, at least once a year on my own – and enjoy the delicious sense of immersion that comes with shrugging off responsibilities for a few days and making true space for creativity. I’m passionate about the value that these retreats bring to my writing process. In fact, I’m passionate about the value they bring to my life, full stop.

I loved The Shell House Detectives. It’s a fabulous read that sets the scene for what I hope will be many other adventures for the characters because I’m simply not prepared to let them go. I grew up in Devon, and I went to Cornwall for the first time when I was five years old. There was something about Penwith that captured my imagination even as that tiny girl. In later years I returned several times – exploring the Tate in St Ives with my sister, to a surf festival in Newquay where my husband’s band were playing – but it wasn’t until I started work on my third novel, The Sea Between Us, that I truly fell in love with that corner of the world. I think part of what intensified my connection to the place is the fact that I became a mother while working on that Cornish-set novel. Whenever I felt claustrophobic, or craving freedom, pushing the buggy through the streets of Bristol or awake through the small hours on night feeds, my mind turned to the landscape of West Cornwall and I felt lifted. The arrival of my son nine years ago signalled the start of a tradition of holidaying in St Ives with my family, and camping trips to Gwithian, so his infancy is very much tied to that corner of the world. We have so many precious memories. I couldn’t make up my mind about Roland, Nathan or Sebastien. I wasn’t sure whether Jayden and Cat would last the distance. I wanted Helena to find where she belonged. I had hopes for Gus and his future. Constable Tim Mullins grew on me!I’m excited for Saffron and what’s in her future. Lewis is absent for most of the story but I felt his confusion and emotional pain and wanted so much more for him. And OMG, the photo. It broke me …

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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? My Review of The Shell House Detectives The local police officers DS Skinner and PC Tim Mullins were incompetent or disinterested investigators. They wanted to find Helena, and they assumed Lewis was at fault. DCI Robinson came from a bigger city to investigate Helean’s disappearance. 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.

Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. The first book in a new cosy mystery series. One of the strengths of this book is the characters. They were mostly well written. At times I thought they were awkward, but on the whole I did enjoy them. I did enjoy Ally very much, but I'm not yet sold on Jayden. Maybe he will grow on me a bit in future books, but I have read cosies before where the main character, or in this case one of the main characters, didn't work for me. It happens. But at least Ally and some other characters were engaging. I at least want to see if Gus will write the first chapter in his book!He was drawn to her then, he knows that now; inexplicably, he wanted to stay in her orbit. Maybe that was how it worked: certain people came into your life at just the right moment – only you didn’t know it was the right moment, not at the time. That only came later. Gorgeous writing and a plot crammed with suspense, this is your perfect new crime series for 2023.” —Kate Riordan, author of The Heatwave A novel is something to hang on to. Something solid. Even if it’s terrible – and it will undoubtedly be terrible – you wouldn’t be able to argue with the fact of its existence. Jayden’s life has changed with the arrival of baby Jasmine (who is now 9 months old) but he still has a key part to play. One scene in particular gave me palpitations! Emylia Hall’s writing really brought this to life, so much so that it was me there feeling and experiencing everything he did. OMG, I have goosebumps reliving it now. I didn’t see that coming! Other characters are Saffron who runs a coffee shop, and Gus Monroe who is renting a house near Sea Dream, he is there to write a novel.

All of my story ideas start first with place. While the setting of Porthpella is fictitious, it’s inspired by several different locations across West Cornwall: a patchwork of beloved places. Beautifully written, gripping, and so atmospheric.…One for fans of Richard Osman!” —Emily Koch, author of What July Knew As a family we’ve holidayed in St Ives and Gwithian for years, and it’s also where I go for solo writing retreats in mid-winter. I couldn’t love it more, and this personal connection is a big part of why this series means so much to me. The natural landscape itself offers amazing potential as a setting for mystery novels – the dramatic cliffs, shifting dunes, relentless ocean. And while there’s an element of romanticising to the world I present – the novels are considered Cosy Crime – I’m also keen to be sensitive to real issues that go beyond the picture postcards. Cozy mystery I thought! That’ll be a pleasant change. But this was so much more than that! Think more along Vera lines. In all honesty I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. This isn’t a genre I’m interested in reading (although I like to watch fictional crime series). Why read it then? I chose to read it because I’ve enjoyed Emylia Hall’s previous novels. And I’m so glad I did! If you’ve read this author’s previous books and you’re not sure about the change in genre, give this a go. You WON’T be disappointed. I guarantee it.The main character was Ally Bight. Ally was a widow who lived alone with her dog and liked to walk the beaches collecting seashells. Ally was still mourning the death of her husband Bill Bight a well-loved small town police sergeant. The Shell House Detectives” also brought up the issue of premonitions and a position which I can appreciate: “He doesn’t believe in premonitions. But he doesn’t quite not believe, either”, but later brought up the cliche of “doesn’t believe in coincidences” (these four words should be banned in books… though I’m sure it’ll appear in one of my novels one day (if it hasn’t already!)). Fate must have brought them together because they become friends almost immediately and, when the police make very little progress in the murder investigation, the two of them bring their combined knowledge of police work together and set out to solve the mystery. And what a mystery as turns out to involve a cold case of suicide and another of murder, and new cases of a missing woman and a possible attempted suicide. 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? Unlike the first book, this also took a long time to engage me. I'd say I was a third of the way into the story before I felt drawn into the plot. Part of that is because of the multi-POV removing our protagonists from the story. But I also think it's because the story casts all the new characters in suspicion with a heavy hand. It seemed every new character could have been guilty. On the one hand, it offers a range of suspects and red herrings, which I do enjoy. But on the other hand, it felt a little forced.

I found the characters extremely engaging, and the twists and turns throughout were great. None of the story felt too predictable, and the characters all had flaws and quirks that added to their personality.Writing a mystery novel feels like a problem-solving exercise, as much of a puzzle for the writer as for the eventual reader. I love the challenge of deciding whodunnit and then having to work out how on earth my sleuths can plausibly figure it out too; it’s as if I’m a detective myself, standing in front of a board of suspects in the Incident Room, trying to put it all together. This feels like a refreshing change in process to me and, above all, it’s the fun I was looking for.” Ally Bright lives in a house in the dunes in Porthpella on the Cornish coast. She lives alone and is still grieving the death of her husband who was the local policeman. Walking her dog on the beach one morning she discovers the body of a man and her calls for help are answered by a young man who is surfing. He turns out to be Jayden Weston, an ex policeman who left the force after his partner was killed. Ally and Jayden take the central leads but their lives touch so many others in this small community. There’s about 34 years difference in age between them and they complement each other perfectly. They make an awesome detective team. It’s not all smooth though! They’re getting to know each other in this first story and I loved how they can get straight to the point and as a result, get to know themselves and their own needs better. Roland is concerned that his wife has not returned from her run. He reports it to the police as she is missing. Could her missing and Lewis's fall have something to do each other. His brother, Nathan is there for the weekend to visit. There are two other characters that make up this story. One is Saffron who owns the coffee shop and Gus Munro who is renting the house next to Sea Dream. He is an author who is there to write his novel and recovering from a recent divorce. There’s a really intelligent irony that the murder victim JP is such an important pivot for the action, because he only appears very briefly. I loved trying to work out who had killed him and given that there are any number of folk who would like to see him dead, Emylia Hall kept me guessing throughout, making for a riveting read.