Thoroughly enjoyed Murder on Sea by Jane Adams and would recommend it to anyone who loves a good thriller. It features Detective Inspector McGregor investigating the brutal murder of an old lady Mrs. Freer, with the help of Rina Martin who runs a guest house in Frantham-on-Sea who is an amateur sleuth.

Murder on Sea by Jane A. Adams is the first book in the new Rina Martin Mystery series and I really enjoyed it. I found this book very enjoyable and hard to put down once I started to read it (and then forgot to do a review for it Sorry) Murder on Sea had lots of great twists and turns throughout and the killer took me by surprise. The characters were interesting and played their parts well in this book

Jane's books are always Well written, and an enjoyable read.

I highly recommend this book and all of Jane Adams books.

Big Thank you Netgalley and Publishers Joffe for an advance copy of Murder on Sea.

My thanks to NetGalley an Joffe publishers for a copy of “ Murder On Sea “ for an honest review.

I was attracted to this book as a ‘cozy crime ‘ ,as a little light relief from my usual preferred genre of psychological thriller.
I must admit it was grittier , and less light hearted than I’d anticipated. An ok read , but for some reason it didn’t hold my attention enough to really enjoy it.
An average read but I know Jane Adams is very popular, so the fault may lie with me.

MURDER ON SEA by Jane Adams.
Meet Rina Martin, a retired actress with a taste for tea, gardening and crime solving.She played a TV sleuth for years. But the job was never supposed to be for real.She put all that behind her when she moved to the sleepy town of Frantham-on-Sea. Here on the Dorset coast, she runs her own pin-neat guest house and life is blissfully quiet.Until a brutal killer comes to town.A few doors down, harmless old Mrs Freer is bludgeoned to death, and Rina can’t help but be drawn into the mystery.Mrs Freer’s home has been ransacked, but this was no ordinary burglary.Who knew the old lady kept a gun stashed under her pillow?And who wanted it badly enough to kill?With her neighbours’ safety at stake, Rina won’t wait to find out.And, besides, damaged DI Sebastian McGregor needs all the help he can get to solve this baffling case . . .
A very good read with good characters. 4*.

Good book! This book was filled with suspense, action, intrigue, and lots of good detective work! It definitely was a good murder mystery! The storyline kept me glued to my Kindle through the whole book! I definitely recommend reading this book!

Rina played a detective on TV, now she wants to be one in real life. Mac transfers to a smaller town after a hard case and ends up working the case of an older lady being murdered in her home. Now the two work opposite each other on a few difficult cases unfolding at the same time. What ties them all together?
Goodreads

3.5 stars.
When the author tells the reader whodunnit early on in a story, the tension in a mystery story is more from watching all the other characters get close to the answers, and possibly also into danger. Which is the situation here, when Jane Adams starts the story with a series of burglaries, followed by murders and revelations of spousal and child abuse. Her first main character is a police officer, DI “Mac” McGregor, new to the Frantham-on-Sea force, and to the neighbourhood, with its families, nosy neighbours, and well-known criminals.
One particular neighbour and the other main character, Rina Martin, is a former actor and now owner of a guest house/home for other former performers and her friends.
Rina kicks off the action when she strides into the police station to complain about the lack of action on the burglaries, and gradually gets pulled into the other situations because she’s observant, intelligent, curious and concerned, and begins poking her nose into things.
Rina and Mac make an interesting pair, with Rina’s forthrightness and Mac recovering from the trauma of a previous case.
I saw others draw parallels between Rina and Mrs. Marple, and I wouldn’t quite agree, other than Rina’s in her early sixties and knows the people in her neighbourhood, and human behaviour, well. Rina’s far more active and involved than Marple was, and for all her storming into the police station at the beginning of this book, I see Rina as kinder than the Victorian-minded Marple.
Would I read more stories with Rina and Mac? Yes, I probably would.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Joffe Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

A lady, Rina Martin, well-known for her portrayal of a TV sleuth has retired to run a B&B in Dorset. Her guests are a motley crew of current and ex-performers. A DI McGregor, Mac, who has been recently transferred to the sleepy town whilst recovering from some previous horrific cases, is given the case of a series of burglaries often involving elderly people living alone. Old Mrs Freer is on of the burgled but is later found murdered although nothing seems to have been taken. Mac has to interview Rina as one of Mrs Freer's neighbours and the two get along like a house on fire. She's motherly and certainly knows the ropes from her TV work, he welcomes the family feeling of her B&B. Suspects are two young boys, one of whom was seriously abused as a child and who, with out-of-it-much-of-the-time-mother and very protective younger sister has moved around the country a lot trying to avoid the abusive father. There also seems to be smuggling going on - nice cave at the bottom of cliffs, school bullying and plenty of other nasty tricks - not that cosy although there isn't a lot of descriptions of blood and gore so I suppose that's why it could be called cosy. The main characters are pleasant people albeit with troubles of their own and the police procedural sound. Lots of decisions to do the right thing or to act as judge oneself. A good story and I hope for more with these two. NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, it had me page turning all the way to find out what happened next. It is described as a Rina Martin Murder Mystery however if I am honest, it feels as if Rina is only a secondary character with the main one being DI Sebastian McGregor or Mac as he is referred to throughout.
Mac has only just transferred to the seaside town of Frantham and as the new kid on the block is given the task of speaking with Mrs Freer who is the most recent victim of a spate of burglaries, however the day after she is found bludgeoned to death and Mac is determined to find out why and by whom?
We are then introduced to a whole delightful cast of warm loveable characters, there is Rina Martin, the retired actress who played a TV detective and Tim the magician/mentalist depending on his audience. There are the two young boys, George and Paul who have never really fitted in at school and in trying to change that suffer the drastic consequences.
The whole story has many themes, domestic violence, peer pressure, bullying as well as lighter themes such as friendship, family and loyalty. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout and I found this to be a really enjoyable read. I think though I would have liked more to have been done with Rina as I feel she could have played a much bigger part. I will definitely be reading the second book in this series.

MURDER ON SEA by Jane Adams A very good police procedural set in a Dorset coastal village featuring a credible and likeable police inspector and a village resident who has considerable knowledge of the town and it's residents. Mac and Rina make for an interesting team for solving crimes in the village. An absorbing mystery. Looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Thank you to Joffe Books, Jane Adams and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

A tense novel with good well fleshed out characters. I liked how George and Paul were portrayed. Thinking instinctively as young boys do. Karen was a strong character always looking out for her little brother but simultaneously protecting but despising her mother for being so weak. Rina and Tim from the guesthouse, sharp thinking. I hope that there is more in this series.

England, murder, murder-investigation, senior-sleuths, law-enforcement, abusive-spouse, abuse, bullies, PTSD***

The former actress with a guest house full of former show folk is a wonder. Unfortunately, the DI coming back to work in a small town with a bad case of PTSD and several cases of spousal abuse and toxic bullying hit too many triggers for me. It sounds like a great book, just not for me.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Joffe Books via NetGalley.

It was the title ‘Murder at Sea’ which made me request this one. Set in Dorset (reading books set in the UK helps my homesickness!) with the main character a tea drinking, crime solving, garden tending retired actress. Perfect! However, that description was rather misleading.

That cringey phrase ‘cozy crime’ should be ditched for a start. There was nothing ‘cozy’ about a violent murder of an elderly disabled lady or of the descriptions of domestic abuse. And was it people smuggling? It was actually quite bleak!

Rina, the tweed skirt wearing, retired actress was actually a secondary character as troubled policeman Mac was the real star. Rina is the landlady of a house filled with what seemed to be music hall, end of the pier type performers. That just seemed so dated and unlikely. The story seemed modern yet there were a few details, such as the boarding house residents, using a landline and the names of some of the characters, that made me query when exactly it was set. I then saw it had first been published in 2008 under a different name but Rina’s sections seemed old-fashioned and almost like a separate gentle short story woven into another far harsher modern one.

Overall, I did enjoy the story, cared for the characters and look forward to reading more by Jane Adams. Thank you Joffe Books and NetGalley.

Posted on Instagram: @iowasfavebooknerd

BOOK REVIEW: Murder on Sea by Jane Adams
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read this if…
🌊 You live in a small town
🌊 You’ve got a gal in town who always knows everything
🌊 You have a fierce desire to protect those you love

Official Synopsis: (Originally published as “A Reason to Kill”) Meet Rina Martin, a retired actress with a taste for tea, gardening and crime solving. She played a TV sleuth for years. But the job was never supposed to be for real. She put all that behind her when she moved to the sleepy town of Franthum-On-Sea. Here on the Dorset coast, she runs her own pin-neat guest house and life is blissfully quiet. Until a brutal killer comes to town.

A few doors down, harmless old Mrs. Freer is bludgeoned to death, and Rina can’t help but be drawn into the mystery. Mrs. Freer’s home has been ransacked, but this was no ordinary burglary. Who knew the old lady kept a gun stashed under her pillow? And who wanted it badly enough to kill? With her neighbours’ safety at stake, Rina won’t wait to find out. And, besides, damaged DI Sebastian McGregor needs all the help he can get to solve this baffling case.

My Thoughts: This book has everything - domestic violence, runaways, murder, suicide, and kidnappings. Based in a small town in Britain, and told from multiple points of view, it’s definitely murder to start, but the readers piece it together before the others do. At that point, it all begins to unravel and snowball into so much more. The story focuses on DI McGregor more than Rina, but the real focus is on a sister’s love for her younger brother and everything she’ll do to protect him.

Thanks @netgalley!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Rina Martin Murder Mystery Book 1

Originally published as A Reason To Kill.

Rina Martin is a retired actress who had played a TV sleuth for years. Now living on Frantham-on-Sea, she has put all that behind her. She now runs a guest house. But when a brutal killer arrives in the sleepy town, and old Mrs Freer is murdered, Rina can't help herself from being drawn into the investigation.

DI Sebastian McGregor (Mac) is called in to investigate the brutal murder of Mrs Freer. He's just back at work after being off sick with stress. This is a multi-layered mystery. It's a mixture of Miss Marple meets Jessica Fletcher feel about it. Some dangerous secrets are revealed. This is a cosy police procedural with likeable main characters. The pace is steady. I did feel that the ending was a bit of a let down but I still enjoyed the book.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #JoffeBooks and the author #JaneAdams for my ARC of #MurderOnSea in exchange for an honest review.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Joffe Books and #NetGalley for my honest opinion. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Quaint cozy mystery for lovers of the genre.

Murder On Sea by Jane Adams
Previously published as A Reason To Kill
First book in a series about Rina, an older theatrical boarding house proprietor who used to be in a TV show about a lady sleuth something like Jessica Fletcher and Mac who is a detective with what sounds something like PTSD from his previous job. He has just transferred to this small seaside town and he meets Rina in the course of a case and they become friends. She has an interesting group of boarders and one especially becomes involved in the case. This is a blend of a police procedural and a cosy mystery glommed together. A very surprising ending but satisfying. I enjoyed it.

This book was originally published as A Reason to Kill.

Rina Martin is a retired actress who played a TV sleuth for years. She put all that behind her when she moved to the sleepy town of Frantham-on-Sea. Here on the Dorset coast, she runs her own pin-neat guest house and life is blissfully quiet. Then a brutal killer comes to town. A few doors down, harmless old Mrs Freer is bludgeoned to death, and Rina can’t help but be drawn into the mystery.
The house had been ransacked, but this was no ordinary burglary. Who knew the old lady kept a gun stashed under her pillow? Detective Inspector Sebastian McGregor aka Mac has recently moved to the area to start a new job after long term sick leave & needs all the help he can get to solve this baffling case.
This is the first book I’ve read by the author & I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the characters who were well portrayed, I loved how Rina & Mac interacted & look forward to reading more in the series. I found the start a bit slow but that often happens with the scene setting of a new series. The pace did pick up & I read the book in two sittings. I enjoyed the mystery even though the culprit was obvious almot from the word go but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment. I also the humour & also some sadness. A very good series starter
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Meet Rina Martin, a retired actress with a taste for tea, gardening and crime solving. A more modern day Miss Marple. And a really delightful character. This is republication of a book from 2007 but I totally missed it the first time around so I was happy to be able to read it this time. Believable characters, tight plotting and a good mystery, this book was quite an enjoyable read. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

DI Sebastion McGregor (Mac), relatively new to the area, is called to investigate when an elderly woman is found in her home, beaten to death, possibly due to a home invasion. Just the day before, she had talked to Mac about the two young teenagers who had broken into her home the night before. She had scared them away with gun ... although it had no firing pin, no bullets.

Rina Martin, a resident of Frantham-On-Sea, us a retired actress with a taste for solving crime. (Think of Jessica Fletcher Murder, She Wrote or Miss Marple). When her friend and neighbor is murdered, she feels that Mac could use some help.

Rina thinks that the intruders were after her gun, although it was of new real use to anyone. But who would have wanted the gun ... and willing to kill for it?

Starting out a little slow, it soon picked up the pace and held steady throughout. There's plenty of action to keep eyes riveted to each and every page. I tremendously enjoyed the residents of this small English village. They are friendly, and some are a bit quirky.. all are deftly drawn and bring realism to the story. Mac is a character worth watching. His demons come from a case that left a child dead and Mac suffering guilt that he wasn't able to save her. This is the beginning what I believe will be a riveting series.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this cozy murder mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.