Murder in Treggan Bay

He came to sell a cottage, not count alibis.

May 1996, South Devon: a developer’s envoy is found dead in the village library, and London journalist Noah Yalland—home to clear his late mother’s cliff-top cottage—gets pulled into a pre-digital mystery of parish registers, council minutes and remembered alibis. With neighbours divided and the bay’s future on the line, can he find the truth in time?

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Blurb

A murder in a village library tips a coastal community off balance. In May 1996, London journalist Noah Yalland returns to South Devon to clear his late mother’s cliff-top cottage, planning to sell and leave.

The Landmark Syndicate’s waterside villas have split neighbours. After their envoy, Frank Cullen, is found bludgeoned, suspicion lands on the locals who confronted him the night before. Librarian Eileen Thorne and Sergeant Scott Langdon see routines overturned, and Noah—who crossed paths with Cullen—becomes more than a bystander.

In a pre-digital mystery traced through parish registers, council minutes, sign-in books and remembered alibis, Noah wants to do right by his father and keep Leo, the new café owner, out of the developers’ crosshairs. With gossip outrunning facts and the bay’s future at stake, can he uncover the truth before the wrong person pays—or the deal becomes impossible to stop?

Boundaries: fade-to-black intimacy, minimal on-page violence, occasional strong language.

First in the Treggan Bay Mysteries and reads cleanly as a stand-alone.

Behind the Pages

Each summer, I find myself wandering the coast paths of Devon—those ribbon-thin trails that flirt with the edge of the sea—wondering what secrets might be tucked beneath the rocks and gorse. The air smells of salt and wild thyme; the cottages huddle together against the wind, their stone walls crusted with sea spray, their roofs furred with lichen in the afternoon sun. Tiny gardens bloom between them—lavender, mint, and mischief. It’s the sort of place where stories don’t need to be written; they simply rise from the soil like mist after rain.

And it was there, between the leaning chimney stacks and gossiping gulls, that I stumbled upon Noah Yalland—London journalist, resourceful enough to untangle Parliament but somehow incapable of boiling an egg without supervision. He arrived in Treggan Bay like an uninvited guest at a wake and, naturally, tripped over a murder before he had his first cup of coffee.

Among the so-called ‘charming’ residents, Noah found himself reluctantly untangling one mystery after another—if only to make it back in time for supper with Leo, who has the patience of a saint and the griddle of a tyrant.

Jern Tonkoi


Reader praise

  • “The mystery itself is wonderfully paced: clues unfold gradually, the investigative tension builds nicely, and there’s always that sense that something is slightly off, just out of place. I especially loved how the small-town backdrop and the subtle, slow-burn romance make everything feel grounded and authentic.”
    Goodreads·Sabrina @literarystitchsociety·
  • “A very well written mystery and I hope to see more of Noah and Leo in the future.”
    Goodreads·Gavin·
  • “I hope book 2 is soon”
    Amazon·Becca·

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