I charged through 'A Cornish Seaside Murder' by Fiona Leitch, finishing it in two afternoons. After reading some difficult emotional novels, this was like drinking a long glass of water on a hot day. Familiarity helps. This is the sixth in the Nosey Parker cosy mystery series.
The story starts and ends during events at Penstowan’s Merrymaid Week celebrating the legend of the Penstowan Siren, the seaside village’s very own mermaid. Part-time caterer Jodie Parker is now an auxiliary detective sergeant reporting to her partner DCI Nathan Withers. When a fisherman is found dead, and the church’s mermaid statue disappears, the police are at a loss to explain what is happening. The mystery is somehow connected with the village’s fishing businesses, the boats are now spending more time taking tourists on sightseeing trips than fishing. As always Jodie either directly knows the people involved, went to school with their sister or knows someone who knows them. Nathan, as the Liverpudlian outsider, is alternately a humorous or serious foil for Jodie’s quick wit. Awkward questions are asked as always by Jodie’s mother Shirley and daughter Daisy, making Jodie stop rushing around and reconsider her assumptions.
The first theory is that one fisherman is invading the territory of another or illegally fishing in protected waters. Then smuggling is considered, for centuries isolated Cornish beaches have been the secret locations for smugglers and wreckers. Or perhaps it is drugs. The plot moves quickly and there are a lot of theories and suspects. Meanwhile Jodie and Nathan are getting more serious, Daisy is growing up and becoming more independent, and Shirley has an admirer.
A quick, light-hearted read, well-written with good character progression from book to book. Jodie is a heart-warming character, straight-talking, sometimes impulsive, who is juggling life as a single mother while holding down two jobs. Perhaps something will have to give?
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When choosing a mystery, you cannot go wrong with any title by Fiona Leitch. Her books maintain a light spirited cast that still manage to solve some very perplexing crimes.

Book 6 in the Nosey Parker mysteries is a mix of hilarious entertainment and dramatic unfoldings. It is the Mermaid Festival in town recreating the sirens who lured local fishermen to their untimely deaths. Jodie is working as an auxiliary police officer, whilst still running her catering company, and also hilariously finds herself dressed as a Mermaid in revealing and unflattering costume. The drama takes a turn when a body turns up. The legend of the siren is certainly not to blame, but there does seem to be some sort of sinister operation going on at sea on the small boats. When more casualties occur alongside missing persons, DCI Nathan Withers and Jodie find themselves in the midst of a possible turf war. A highly entertaining cosy mystery. #acornishseasidemurder #fionaleitch #noseyparkermystery #cosycrime #netgalley

A fun series which centres around ex-police officer Jodie, who has moved back to her Cornish hometown of Pentowan, and has started a catering business. She is also a part time detective with the police department, putting her in the position of working for her boyfriend, DI Nathan Winters.

Book 6 in the series can be read as a standalone, but like any series with recurring characters, is best read in order, to get all the nuances and personality quirks. This is the second one I've read and I enjoyed it as much as the last one. Jodie is fun and warm, and she has a wonderful relationship with her daughter and Nathan, and a slightly fractious one with her mother. This one finds the town preparing for a Mermaid Festival, but a man found drowned in a water trough puts everyone on edge. The fishermen, superstitious at the best of times, are convinced The Siren, a vengeful mermaid, has come back to wreak revenge.

Nathan is more sceptical, however, and believes the cause is more modern.

An enjoyable, easy-to-read series although not especially difficult to figure out. Recommended for a leisurely afternoon in your favourite chair with a cup of tea.

Reaching down to the depths of my ARC pile again.

As a frequent Cornwall visitor I’d say this book is a perfect accompaniment to any trip there. I read it and it made me long for my favourite places. That aside a great thriller with plenty of twists and interesting characters!

The character development is consistent throughout the series, it makes you feel like you know the characters. The stories and crimes are engaging and are intertwined with their personal lives. Enjoyed reading the books, certainly better than watching TV!

This cozy illustrates that no matter how awesome of a sleuth, a chef, a former London cop, oh and mom (cannot forget the mom part) you cannot do it all at the same time, and do it all well. Josie Parker is an amazing character as we can certainly see throughout the other books. It has been quiet since Jodie has passed the necessary exams to join the local constabulary as a type of ‘floating’ detective sergeant. That soon changes when Jodie, acting the part of the Penstowan Siren, during an annual festival, happens upon a fisherman drowned in a water trough in the cemetery. Upon discovering the theft of the Stone Mermaid statue from the church, old man Jago Thomas claims that the Mermaid turned vengeful Siren is back to wreak havoc on the fisherman. Josie is sure that there is something fishy going on but it doesn’t have anything to do with a missing mermaid statue or a gothic feminist reimagining of the Siren myth. Instead of having several obvious suspects, the reader has the opportunity to follow clues right along with DS Parker and DI Withers aka Josie and her hot copper boyfriend Nathan. This is a great book for any armchair sleuth and as a plus it comes with a great cookie recipe so you can enjoy some cookies while you are reading to see if Josie can in fact balance it all out between catering for a 100th birthday party, helping Daisy with her gothic feminist reimaging, detecting with the DI, and staying safe as promised to Daisy and her mum. I give this 5 out of 5 mermaid/sirens.

I do enjoy a good Murder Mystery/detective book. This is great from start to finish.

The way Fiona writes is really good, it draws you in and makes you love all her characters.

The storyline is brilliant and unexpected and I can't wait to read more in this series. I won the set ina. Competition a while back and I'm so excited to get stuck in to more.

Whilst working a trial period as an auxiliary Detective Sergeant with the Penstowan police force, former Met police officer Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker, alongside DCI Nathan Withers becomes involved with the suspicious drowning of a local fisherman. They begin to suspect that something much more sinister is going on.
A thoroughly enjoyable tale with plenty of twists and turns, a great addition to the series.

Is there anything better than a cosy mystery to glue you to your seat? And is there anywhere better to be glued to said seat than a cafe on a cold Autumn morning as you wait for your car to be fixed? I’ll be honest, I can’t think of anywhere!

One morning, as I waited on a huge engine malfunction (car’s words, not mine!), to be sorted in a land far far away (well, next town over!), I decided I needed something gripping and my eyes landed on this.

This is part of a series I have read totally out of order but it didn’t matter, following Jodie Parker as they investigate the deaths of fishermen, with people insinuating that it’s linked to a siren (mermaid creature) calling them to their demise. I loved that I had constant thoughts back to whether this could be the case or whether it was a suspect from the area. The pacing was nicely up and down for me as descriptions and setting sometimes just made me nod along, then investigative work, everyday (not so normal everyday, the preparation for a festival type malarkey) coupled with a nice smart humour gave me another enjoyable car wait (this is a somewhat regular thing, trip for car with a great book!). All in all so recommended for atmosphere, humour, and great investigative cosiness! Beyond recommended! Thanks to the publisher for the book in return for an honest review.

Rating:5/5

A Cornish Seaside Murder is the sixth Nosey Parker mystery by Fiona Leitch. Released 8th June 2023 by Harper Collins on their One More Chapter imprint, it's 270 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is such a fun continuation to a humorous and quick-to-read cozy series. I never once found my interest wandering and the action moves along at a good clip.It's a village cozy and replete with the warm and slightly wonky eccentricities of village life and the inhabitants to be found there. The spelling and vernacular are UK English (flat, tyre, boot, torch) but won't pose any problems in context for readers from North America.

A bizarre murder at the start of a village fete/festival with potential superstitious overtones drags Jodie ("Nosey") Parker into the middle of investigating smuggling and the criminal underworld, such as it is, in their sleepy Cornish village. She's also caught up in trying to juggle her family and her catering business commitments with not-always-ideal results.

Four stars. The mystery is self contained in this volume so it works well enough as a standalone read, but the generally high quality of the series as a whole would also make for a good binge/buddy read. Fans of J. M. Hall, and Peter Boland will find this one a delight.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A light hearted and lightweight crime mystery set in a Cornish village. I was not aware until finishing the book that it was part of a series but it was still very easy to follow and worked well as a stand-alone story.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

As always, I love getting back into the life of Jodie. In this installment, she is finally made an auxiliary investigator, and gets to work alongside Nathan officially. The murder this time that has rocked the small town of Penstowan appears to have been done by a mermaid?? Jodie must work to balance her catering business and her detective work, while also taking care of her family. The annual mermaid festival is coming up, but the town legend has everyone worried. With more and more people seemingly getting attacked, Jodie has to figure out this mystery quick.

This novel was different from the previous books in that there wasn't as much of her catering, there was a lot more detective work involved, and the case was a lot more dangerous than previous cases. This made it not as lighthearted as I have come to expect from these mysteries, and the ending makes me worry that we won't have any more in this series! It did give a lot more of the history of the town, and filled the town out more, which I liked. I hope there are more books soon, I love reading this series.

I love this series of books and the latest instalment does not disappoint. Cosy crime at its best with plenty of comedic moments and a splash of romance. You couldn’t ask for more! The books can all be read as standalone but the series is fabulous! Can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you Netgalley

This was my first of these books but it didn't matter I hadn't read the others in the series. A beautiful setting, lots of twists and turns - a great summer read!

Story line was clever with several twists and turns, and the characters themselves was funny , but it's not a series I will be going on with at thus time .

This was a fantastic installment to the series. The plot is clever with several twists and turns, just as I like. It was fun to visit with Nosey Parker again.
Many thanks to Harpercollins UK and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Another great addition to the Jodie 'Nosey' Parker series, again making me wish I'd discovered these sooner. It's a light, easy read, but unlike some so-called cozy mysteries, it's not a literary sleeping tablet. There's plenty going on, and it's genuinely funny throughout.

You can find the full synopsis and purchase links here:

https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/a-cornish-seaside-murder-a-nosey-parker-cozy-mystery-book-6-fiona-leitch?variant=40255344279630

- book 6 of series
-I was hooked in the first chapter- lots of action and excitement
-fun, easy read
-loved the characters; especially Jodie- a strong woman, yet vulnerable and worried about being a good mom
-like reading a tv detective show
-loved the surprise ending
-Mocha Choc Chip cookie recipe

Thank you NetGalley , Harper Collins UK and One More Chapter for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Princess Fuzzypants here: Has a homicidal mermaid returned to the seaside village? The superstitious old time fishermen think it is possible but police officers Jodie and Nathan think the cause is far more human and sinister. Jodie has been brought on as a DS on a temporary basis. The challenge is less having Nathan her boss and more in trying to juggle all the various balls she has in the air without them dropping..

Clearly there is something nefarious going on and it involves boats and some kind of contraband. As more of the participants seem to be harmed, Jodie and Nathan inch closer and closer to the conclusion that Jodie does not want to be true. When they finally figure the entire thing out, it is not what they expected.

This is an entertaining series with great characters who have humour and intelligence. The setting in Cornwall is delightful too and makes the reader want to take trip to see the sights. Alas, we shall have to content ourselves with a literary journey at the moment. Five purrs and two paws up.