A Sparkling Seaside Mystery Series: A Guest Post by Jess Kidd
A former nun is released from her vows to journey to Gull’s Nest, a seaside hotel nestled on the shores of a beach town shrouded in secrets. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Jess Kidd on writing the first installment to her brand-new cozy mystery series, Murder at Gull’s Nest.
Hardcover
$25.99
$28.99
Murder at Gulls Nest: A Novel
Murder at Gulls Nest: A Novel
By Jess Kidd
In Stock Online
Hardcover
$25.99
$28.99
From Jess Kidd, the bestselling author of Things in Jars who “is so good it isn’t fair” (Erika Swyler, nationally bestselling author), the first in a cozy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside town after her pen pal mysteriously disappears.
From Jess Kidd, the bestselling author of Things in Jars who “is so good it isn’t fair” (Erika Swyler, nationally bestselling author), the first in a cozy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside town after her pen pal mysteriously disappears.
Murder at Gulls Nest is the first book in a brand-new sparkling seaside mystery series. It’s 1953 and after three decades in a Carmelite monastery Nora Breen hangs up her habit and travels to Gore-on-Sea, a seaside town on the Kent coast. She checks into the Gulls Nest boarding house, a place of eccentric inmates, austerity meals and fading grandeur. But Nora has not washed up on a whim, she’s here to investigate the disappearance of her favourite novice. When a fellow boarder is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Nora suspects foul play. Only, it seems that everyone – even Nora herself – has a secret to hide at Gulls Nest…
Murder at Gulls Nest is the product of a few different sparks of inspiration. I was raised by a big, wild, London-Irish family and taught by a former nun. I was intrigued by her story, as to why she had joined and left the order. But she was formidable, and I was afraid to ask! The setting of the Gulls Nest boarding house grew out of a disastrous romantic break on the English coast. It was an unforgettable stay — but not in the way you’d hope for! The hotel was old and grand and shabbily strange. It was presided over by a formidable landlady and boasted haunted plumbing, inedible breakfasts and wonderfully odd guests.
The process of creating Murder at Gulls Nest was a little different to the other novels I have written. Although I’ve previously used crime elements in all my books I’m usually known as a cross-genre writer. I love to add folklore, or magical realism, or myth. But if I played by the rules of the crime convention adding any supernatural elements would mean I would have to debunk them. At first it was hard to resist the temptation of adding a sprinkling of ghosts! With Gulls Nest I set myself a challenge, I wanted to create a satisfying crime plot but not at the expense of character. I would need to carefully calibrate puzzles for Nora to solve in a way that would organically unravel the cast of this most peculiar of boarding houses. The logistics of setting out a murder (or murders!) and the resulting investigation, requires planning and precision, but I do allow space for deviation as I’m writing. I think this keeps the process alive and spontaneous for me and hopefully this communicates to my reader too. This is the first book in a series whereas my previous novels have been stand-alone, which has altered the way I approached the writing. It was important to me to find a time and place, and a cast of core characters, I would want to return to again and again and hopefully my readers would too. I enjoy the research element of writing historical fiction and studied photographs along with oral and written accounts from this poignant period in the shadow of the trauma of war but with optimism for brighter days ahead.