A Cornish Seaside Murder by Fiona Leitch

 

Just as the local mermaid festival is about to begin a body is found having been drowned in a horse trough. Since the stone statue of a mermaid has disappeared from the church, some of the older residents think the mermaid of the local legend has returned to kill fishermen. Jodie 'Nosey' Parker is convinced it's more likely to be drug smuggling gone wrong. 

This is the sixth book in the Nosey Parker series from Fiona Leitch. Having previously read books 4 and 5 in the series I was really pleased to get hold of A Cornish Seaside Murder, at some point I'm going to get around to the first three books too. 

Firstly, you really don't need to have read any of the previous books in the series to enjoy this one. Secondly, this is perfect for fans of cozy crime thrillers. There are a couple of incidents involving brutal crimes but nothing is overly graphic.

This time around our main character, Jodie, is working as an auxiliary to the local police force, using the skills she developed when she worked as a police officer in the Met. This is much more of a police procedural than previous books, there is very little story-line involving Jodie's catering business. This means that some of the supporting characters (her Mum, daughter, assistant and dog) don't have a large part in the story, as a result of this I felt some of the usual humour was lost. What we do gain more of is Jodie's relationship with her boyfriend, Nathan.

Since Nathan is a police officer and Jodie is an auxiliary it means that Nathan is her boss while they are at work. Jodie doesn't like being told what to do and is so used to being her own boss that this arrangement does cause a little bit of friction but it is all dealt with in a lighthearted way.

The story-line initially seems pretty straight forward but there are enough twists to keep you hooked. An enjoyable read but I did miss the catering elements of the story as they involve the more eccentric characters.

A Cornish Seaside Murder by Fiona Leitch will be published on 8th June 2023 in ebook format and on 31st August 2023 in paperback. My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a review copy.