Ruin Beach: A Locked-Island Mystery: 2

This is an author I’d never tried before, although at one of our meetings a member of our group did recommend her. Mainly I chose this because it’s set in the Scilly Isles. But I enjoyed it so much that I’ll be looking for more by Kate Rhodes.

Ruin Beach is Book 2 in the DI Ben Kitto series, which launched in January 2018 with Hell Bay. Book 3 (Burnt Island) was published in 2019 and Book 4, Pulpit Rock, will appear later this year.

Kitto has returned home to the Scilly Isles having worked in London in the murder squad. He’s Deputy Chief of Police and the plan is that he will be promoted to Chief when his boss retires. This story starts with the body of a young, professional diver being discovered anchored to the rocks outside a cave known as Piper’s Hole.

Retrieving the body is difficult because of treacherous tides, and at first everyone thinks it was just a tragic accident. Then the post-mortem reveals that she’d been killed by having a small bronze figurine of a mermaid rammed down her throat. Asphyxiation, not drowning.

Kitto’s investigation in this small, island community is complicated by the fact that everyone knows everyone else. And as in Ann Cleeves’s Shetland series, the relationships between island families often sends things off in different (and wrong) directions.

The story meanders around the island of Tresco as Kitto unpicks the clues. Descriptions of scenery and nature are vivid and the characters are well-drawn and credible. I found myself caring about what was going to happen next. And the solution to the mystery, when it is revealed, is a surprise. Unexpected because Rhodes has been carefully leading the reader in another direction. It’s well done and rewarding. And Kitto himself is an interesting character.

As I’ve said, I really enjoyed this book. The setting, characters and plot all combine to make an interesting whole and I’ll certainly read the other books in this series. I give this one 4+ Stars.
Review by: Cornish Eskimo