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Murder at Gulls Nest

by Jess Kidd

Secrets at a seaside hotel

Regular price $23.28 USD
Regular price $38.81 USD Sale price $23.28 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Editorial selection

    One of The Wall Street Journal’s Best Mysteries of 2025

    Named one of The Wall Street Journal's Best Mysteries of 2025.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Secrets at a seaside hotel

Set in 1954 at a hotel in the Kent town of Gore-on-Sea, the mystery begins when Nora Breen’s former novice, Frieda, stops writing to her. Nora leaves her vows and arrives at Gulls Nest seeking answers, concealing her identity as she probes the lives of the hotel’s guests. The setting brings together a former nun, a missing pen pal, and a community where secrets are part of the premise; a series of unusual murders raises the stakes of Nora’s inquiries. The book opens a cozy mystery series centered on amateur sleuthing, with the question of whether the past can be escaped running through its seaside investigation.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in cozy mysteries and amateur sleuths.
  • Readers who enjoy mysteries set in seaside communities and hotels.
  • Readers drawn to stories involving secrets, a missing correspondent, and a former nun.

Themes

Secrecy and concealed identityUnanswered correspondence and disappearanceThe past and the possibility of starting overAmateur investigation

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Mysteries of 2025

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.

I believe every one of us at Gulls Nest is concealing some kind of secret.

1954: When her former novice's dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda's letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent.

A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest it's time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.
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