When a developer's envoy is found bludgeoned in the village library, Treggan Bay's uneasy peace breaks. In May 1996, London journalist Noah Yalland returns to South Devon to clear his late mother's cliff-top cottage-intending to sell and leave-only to be pulled into small-town loyalties, old paperwork, and a slow-burn connection he didn't expect.
The Landmark Syndicate's shiny plans for waterside villas have split neighbours. With Frank Cullen dead, suspicion settles on the locals who challenged him the night before. Eileen Thorne, the village librarian and former registrar, sees her quiet order upended; Sergeant Scott Langdon starts asking sharp questions; and Noah-who had his own run-in with Cullen-finds himself far more than a witness. In this pre-digital mystery, answers live in parish registers, council minutes, sign-in books, and remembered alibis-no gadgets, just who was where, and why.
Noah wants to do right by his father, keep Leo-the new café owner-out of the developers' crosshairs, and leave with his conscience intact. But long-buried records, generational feuds, and a growing pull towards Leo complicate every choice. With gossip moving faster than facts and the bay's future on the line, can Noah uncover the truth before the wrong person pays-or before the deal that would change Treggan Bay becomes impossible to stop? Expect tender, quietly witty, coastal, community-centred, melancholic-hope notes. Boundaries: fade-to-black intimacy, minimal on-page violence, occasional strong language. First in the Treggan Bay Mysteries and reads cleanly as a stand-alone.
Perfect for readers who enjoy small-town British mysteries, coastal settings, queer slow burn, found-family communities, journalist-sleuths, and secrets hidden in public records.