I cannot believe that The Cornish Halloween Murder by Fiona Leitch is book 11 in the Nosey Parker cozy crime series. I have enjoyed every single book in the series, but this is definitely my favourite. Each time I revisit Jodie and her family and friends it feels as if I'm spending time with friends, and catching up on their lives.
The initial investigation stems from a property developer uncovering strange dolls as they strip back an old convent that is being converted into flats. Local residents are unhappy as they feel that a medical centre would be more appropriate, so the developer isn't sure if the dolls have been planted to try to scare him and his builders off. I really found this whole aspect of the story unsettling. The dolls, or poppets, have links to witchcraft, and their description is extremely creepy.
During the investigation, a body is found in the convent. Jodie, along with her husband, a police detective, then has to figure out if the death is linked to the dolls. The ominous feeling intensifies as the building was locked, and CCTV shows no one entering or leaving.
There are a variety of themes that are interwoven to keep the reader guessing: balancing profit and need in property development, toxic masculinity, and the historical treatment of young single women who get pregnant. As I read, my feelings swung between dread, anger, and sadness. One scene in particular was immensely poignant, and shocking to consider that the events described took place only 50 years ago.
This is cozy crime, so there are some humorous moments to help lighten the tone, Jodie's mother is in classic form as usual, and I always enjoy the scenes involving her friend Debbie (a much underused character, in my opinion). While I thought the murderer became fairly obvious towards the end of the story, I did like the way everything was concluded.
The Cornish Halloween Murder by Fiona Leitch will be published on 24th September 2026 in paperback, ebook, and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for a review copy.
Author Details
Fiona Leitch is a writer with a chequered past. She’s written for football and motoring magazines, DJ’ed at illegal raves and is a stalwart of the low budget TV commercial, even appearing as the Australasian face of a cleaning product called ‘Sod Off’. After living in London and Cornwall she’s finally settled in sunny New Zealand, where she enjoys scaring her cats by trying out dialogue on them. She spends her days dreaming of retiring to a crumbling Venetian palazzo, walking on the windswept beaches of West Auckland, and writing funny, flawed but awesome female characters.
Her debut novel ‘Dead in Venice’ was published by Audible in 2018 as one of their Crime Grant finalists. Fiona also writes screenplays and was a finalist in the Athena Film Festival Writers Lab, co-run by Meryl Streep’s IRIS company.
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