Hell Bay: A gripping and unputdownable psychological crime novel with a stunning British setting

· Simon and Schuster
4.8
22 reviews
Ebook
400
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

THE ISLES OF SCILLY MYSTERIES # 1

Gripping, clever and impossible to put down' ERIN KELLY

DI Ben Kitto needs a second chance. After ten years working for the murder squad in London, a traumatic event has left him grief-stricken. He’s tried to resign from his job, but his boss has persuaded him to take three months to reconsider.

Ben plans to work in his uncle's boatyard on the tiny Scilly island of Bryher where he was born, hoping to mend his shattered nerves. His plans go awry when the body of a sixteen-year-old girl is found on the beach at Hell Bay. Her attacker must still be on the island because no ferries have sailed during the two-day storm. 

Everyone on the island is under suspicion. Dark secrets are about to resurface. And the murderer could strike again at any time . . .

PRAISE FOR KATE RHODES:

Gripping, clever and impossible to put down. I’ve been a Kate Rhodes fan for years and in Ben Kitto she has created a detective who is just as complex and compelling as Kate’s elegant plotting and stunning prose. The claustrophobia and paranoia of the island are so brilliant evoked, I could almost feel the tide encroaching as time ran out to find the killer' ERIN KELLY

‘Absorbing and complex, Hell Bay kept me guessing until the final pages’ RACHEL ABBOTT

'A vividly realised protagonist whose complex and harrowing history rivals the central crime storyline' SOPHIE HANNAH

'Beautifully written and expertly plotted; this is a masterclass' GUARDIAN

'Expertly weaves a sense of place and character into a tense and intriguing story' METRO

'Rhodes does a superb job of balancing a portrayal of a tiny community oppressed by secrets with an uplifting evocation of setting' Jake Kerridge, SUNDAY EXPRESS

The whole book tingles with tension. I hope it does for the Scilly Isles what Ann Cleeves did for Shetland' MEL MCGRATH

'I love reading Kate's books in the way I love reading Sophie Hannah – a poet writing crime fiction is a great thing . . . It is at once a locked-room mystery, a story of the returning hero, and an examination of fear and abuse. It has the air of a twenty-first century Agatha Christie' JULIA CROUCH

Ratings and reviews

4.8
22 reviews
Keith Havard
July 18, 2022
Not a bad storyline on the whole - I chose to read this as I saw a couple of people reading this book on our visit to the Isles of Scilly in May of this year, read the reviews and thought it could be a good read considering how I might identify with the the story seeing as we had visited some of the places mentioned. I gathered that to the writer would know the islands quite well, having spent a fair bit of childhood holidays in Scilly. Having enjoyed our holiday very much and experienced the feel of these beautiful islands and it's warm, friendly and welcoming inhabitants in a way I wished I hadn't read Hell Bay as I couldn't imagine murders happening in such a close knit community. Also, seeing that there are other books in the series I certainly will not be reading them so as not to risk tainting my view of these truly wonderful islands.
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Shelly Morris
July 17, 2019
Great book by author. will definitely be reading more from this author
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michael undrell
July 3, 2019
Great read. Really enjoyed it. Onto Ruin Beach
1 person found this review helpful
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About the author

Kate Rhodes is an acclaimed crime novelist and an award-winning poet. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, the writer and film-maker Dave Pescod, and visited the Scilly Isles every year as a child, which gave her the idea for this series. She is one of the founders of the Killer Women writing group.

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