I so loved Emylia Hall’s The Shell House Detectives reviewed here, that I included it in my very first selection of books for The People’s Friend magazine paperback bookshelf back in July.

Consequently, I simply had to review the second book in the Shell House Detectives series, The Harbour Lights Mystery and I would like to thank Emylia for sending me a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

The Harbour Lights Mystery is published by Thomas and Mercer today, 17th October 2023, and is available for purchase here.

The Harbour Lights Mystery

As The Shell House Detectives try to solve a family mystery, their investigation runs dangerously close to a murder case. Are the two linked?

It’s December in Cornwall, and Mousehole harbour is illuminated with its famous Christmas lights. Ally Bright is among the crowd listening to the carol singers—and then to the piercing screams that rip through the darkness. A body has been found, brutally murdered and dumped in a fisherman’s boat.

The victim is chef JP Sharpe and there is no shortage of people who might have wanted him dead. Eager for a new case for The Shell House Detectives, Ally calls ex-cop Jayden, but he’s keen to leave it to the police—until a letter in Sharpe’s pocket draws them into a seemingly unconnected family mystery. As they take on this highly charged mission, the duo can’t help scrutinising the murder suspects. Who among the close-knit community has reason to kill, and how far will they go to protect themselves?

As fear spreads, Ally and Jayden need answers—fast. Could the letter offer a clue to the murder case or will it reveal a terrible truth? And when a new witness comes to light, Jayden closes in on a desperate killer…but can he warn Ally in time?

My Review of The Harbour Lights Mystery

Chef JP Sharpe has been murdered.

All I really want to say is that The Harbour Lights Mystery is totally, completely and unequivocally fabulous and everyone should read it immediately. However, as that doesn’t articulate why I think that I suppose I had better try to write some kind of review. 

The plot is brilliant. It is so skilfully constructed so that the reader is given hints and clues but is not entirely sure of outcomes until the end of the narrative. I can imagine comparisons to the best of Agatha Christie but I think that is to do Emylia Hall a disservice, because I believe she is a writer far more skilled not just in storytelling, but in setting and character too. 

There are several characters to get to know here, some of whom have previously featured in The Shell House Detectives, but each is so well depicted that the transition into The Harbour Lights Mystery doesn’t need any previous knowledge of them at all. Ally, Jayden and Mullins feel well loved and familiar, but they also act as a glorious foundation against which all the other characters can be discovered. And they have such depth. In a few words Emylia Hall enables her reader to understand these people in all their frailties, delusions, secrets and desires. That’s not to say everything is revealed all at once, but getting to know Saffy, Dominic et al is an absolute delight. 

There’s a really intelligent irony that the murder victim JP is such an important pivot for the action, because he only appears very briefly. I loved trying to work out who had killed him and given that there are any number of folk who would like to see him dead, Emylia Hall kept me guessing throughout, making for a riveting read. 

The Cornish setting is glorious. There’s not a wasted or extraneous syllable here and the idea of place serves to enhance the plot whilst enabling the reader to visualise where things are happening. I loved the fact that this is no idealised or romanticised concept of Cornwall, but that weather, seas and surroundings can have moods and attitudes every bit as much as the people.

However, what is so utterly fantastic about The Harbour Lights Mystery is Emylia Hall’s ability to entertain, to wrong-foot and mesmerise her reader whilst simultaneously breaking their hearts. This might be a mystery story with murder as the catalyst, but it is so very much more. The understanding of who we are as people, of how our flawed, imperfect lives intersect with others, simply shines through the pages of this wonderful, wonderful story. The Harbour Lights Mystery is a fast paced, cracking thriller, but it’s steeped in love and emotion too. Emylia Hall entertained me to perfection and reduced me to tears in the process!

Atmospheric, absorbing and amazing, The Harbour Lights Mystery has no right to be this fabulous. I totally adored it. 

About Emylia Hall

Emylia Hall lives with her husband and son in Bristol, where she writes from a hut in the garden and dreams of the sea. The Shell House Detectives is her first crime novel and is inspired by her love of Cornwall’s wild landscape. Emylia has published four previous novels, including Richard and Judy Book Club pick The Book of Summers and The Thousand Lights Hotel. Her work has been translated into ten languages and broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. She is the founder of Mothership Writers and is a writing coach at The Novelry.

You can follow Emylia on Twitter/X @EmyliaHall and visit her website. You’ll also find her on Facebook. and Instagram.