Murder at Gulls Nest

After leaving the nunnery where she lived a quiet life as Sister Agatha for the past thirty years, Nora Breen arrives at the Gulls Nest boarding house in the Kent seaside town of Gore-on-Sea. She is searching for her friend, fellow nun Frieda Bogan, who left the nunnery due to chronic illness. Frieda had been writing weekly letters to Nora about her new life—until the letters suddenly stopped.

Staying in Frieda’s old room, Nora keeps a low profile while investigating Frieda’s movements. The other residents all say she left suddenly without notice, but Nora is worried that something has happened to her. She decides to use her finely honed powers of observation to find her. While she learns a lot about her fellow boarders—their relationships and secrets—one of them dies of an apparent suicide. However, Nora is sure he was murdered and feels that solving the circumstances of his death will help her find Frieda.

Jess Kidd has given us an engrossing historical murder mystery set in a run-down 1950s seaside town—a cozy-ish type of crime novel, but without her usual touch of magical realism. She captures the era so perfectly that it feels like somewhere you’ve seen before, especially the dingy boarding house, run with strict rules by a widow and a housekeeper with horrendous cooking skills. Not at all the kind of place you’d want to stay for any length of time, especially if you could afford better.

Of Irish Catholic birth, Nora is easy to warm to—forthright and inquisitive, with a fiery spirit and a good line in Irish idioms. She adapts quickly to life outside the monastery, taking up smoking and trying whisky and cocktails. Despite being told animals are not allowed, she befriends a seagull by feeding him anchovies, naming him after a steely-eyed priest she knew as a novice. She also badgers the local detective, Inspector Rideout, until he has no choice but to investigate the suspicious death, even if he’s not yet convinced that he should be looking for Frieda.

The list of guests staying at Gulls Nest is a curious mixture: an aging puppeteer, a married couple, and a barman who lusts after the landlady. And then there is Dinah, the strange child who doesn’t speak but sees and hears much of what happens at Gulls Nest. Nora strikes up a friendship of sorts with Dinah, knowing she is likely to have observed many of the house’s secrets.

With a wonderful cast of characters, a sense of fun, witty dialogue, and some wickedly good twists, it’s delightful to note that this is the first in a series, with another outing with Nora coming soon.

With thanks to Faber & Faber for a copy to read