The Shell House Detectives by Emylia Hall

Thank you Cath at Read-Warbler for your very fine review of The Shell House Detectives (2023).  Its the first novel in Emylia Hall's new mystery series and it takes place in West Cornwall in the fictional seaside town of Porthpella.  I was drawn in to the Shell House Detectives right from the start and I already have the second book in the series The Harbour Lights Mystery stored in my kindle.   

When the Shell House Detectives begins we are introduced to Ally Bright, a widow in her 60's.  She is an artist and beachcomber who makes beautiful paintings and sculptures from the items she finds on her walks along the beach.  Ally has a cute little dog named Fox and everything seems to be going well.  But Ally is dealing with grief.  Her husband Bill, a retired police officer, died  a year ago and life hasn't been the same since.

And then one night a young man, Lewis Pascoe, knocks on Ally's door. Bill told Lewis that he would be there for him if he ever needed help.  Lewis needs help now because he has just gotten out of prison only to find that his grandmother who raised him passed away and new people are living where his grandmother used to live.

Ally wants to help.  She remembers Lewis Pascoe's father, Paul Pascoe, who committed suicide 20 years ago when Lewis was a baby.  She is tempted Pl Ted to invite Lewis in to talk but lly is a woman alone it's late at night and so she breaks the news to Lewis that Bill is gone and that if Lewis is in trouble he needs to go to the police.  

The next day Ally is walking along the beach with Fox and notices that there has been an accident up ahead.  Ally gets closer and discovers it is Lewis.  He has fallen from the cliff and is barely alive.  The police are calling it an attempted suicide.

And that introduces us to Jayden Weston who is also there at the scene.  Jayden is 30 and recently retired from the Leeds police force after his partner was killed in the line of duty.  Jayden, like Ally, is somewhat lost.  He moved to Porthpella with his wife and baby on the way to have a more peaceful life.  But Jayden is bored because being a detective is in his blood.  Ally and Jayden are also not convinced that Lewis's accident was a suicide attempt particularly after a woman goes missing and the two cases seem to be related.  And so they decide to join forces to do their own investigating and help Lewis.

The Shell House Detectives is an atmospheric book and I would love to live in a seaside community in West Cornwall.  And the nearby sea we are talking about is the Atlantic Ocean.  Ally and Jayden start out in a melancholy place but their determination to find out what happened to Lewis awakens their spirit and drive and they have good chemistry together.

Ally and Jayden are well drawn and so is Saffron the young woman who owns the Hang Ten Coffee shop and likes to surf.  There is Gus who is working on a detective novel and Mullins a young Porthpella police officer with an admirable sense of duty.   I am thinking that along with Ally and Jayden, Saffron, Gus and Mullins are also going to be regulars in this series and I am all here for it.  I highly recommend The Shell House Detectives.