--- title: "The Watchman's Secret" description: "When storm-washed remains surface near Hollow Eye Lighthouse, Noah Yalland follows a Belgian pistol, a marked cigarette case, and a gold watch into Treggan Bay's older secrets." canonical: "https://jerntonkoi.com/books/the-watchman-s-secret/" html: "https://jerntonkoi.com/books/the-watchman-s-secret/" type: "books" date: "2025-10-16" ai_usage: "welcome for search, AI input, and AI training" --- # The Watchman's Secret When storm-washed remains surface near Hollow Eye Lighthouse, Noah Yalland follows a Belgian pistol, a marked cigarette case, and a gold watch into Treggan Bay's older secrets. ## Book Metadata - Series: Treggan Bay Mysteries - Series order: 2 - Publisher: Tonkoi Books - Word count: 61246 - Language: en - Country of origin: GB - Genres: Cozy Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, British Detectives, LGBTQ+ Mystery - Keywords: lighthouse mystery, skeletal remains, coastal mystery, village secrets, smugglers, queer mystery, gay slow burn, South Devon mystery - Content advisory: Village mystery with skeletal remains, storm/sea peril, break-in, historical gunfire references, minor injuries, family/community secrets, mild language, and closed-door queer romantic development. ## Editions - EBook; published 2025-10-16; USD 4.99 - Paperback; published 2025-10-16; 232 pages; USD 13.99 - Hardcover; published 2025-10-16; 232 pages; USD 19.99 ## Buy Links - Books2Read (all stores) (EBook): https://books2read.com/tonkoi-thewatchmanssecret - Amazon (EBook): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FTGPN3MF - Kobo (EBook): https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-watchman-s-secret - Amazon (Paperback): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FTXVBH28 - Amazon (Hardcover): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FTXSBVFX ## Reader Guide - Best for: Readers who want coastal mystery atmosphere, buried history, and a second-book deepening of the series relationships. - Tone: Mistier and more elegiac than Book 1, still cozy-leaning but edged with old grief. - Reading order: Book 2 of the Treggan Bay Mysteries. Best after *Murder in Treggan Bay*. - Heat / intensity: Low heat. The queer romantic thread remains gentle and non-explicit. - Content note: Contains old remains, grief, family secrets, peril, and historical prejudice; violence is not graphic. ## Selected Reviews - "The Watchman’s Secret by Jern Tonkoi is a beautifully written coastal mystery, steeped in atmosphere and quiet emotion." -- Sabrina Mordini, Goodreads - "I loved seeing the pieces come together. That was amazing. A really good book. Both books." -- Becca, Amazon - "A very interesting mystery and a developing romance between Noah and Leo, the searcher and the secret keeper." -- Gavin, Goodreads ## Comparable Books - The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: Warm mystery ensemble, emotional depth, and an approachable darker thread. - Murder at Pirate's Cove by Josh Lanyon: Seaside amateur-sleuth lane with queer relationship continuity. - The Cornish Village Murder by Fiona Leitch: Adjacent coastal-village mystery expectations around place, secrets, and tone. ## FAQ ### Should I read Book 1 first? Yes. The mystery has its own shape, but the emotional and village context work best after *Murder in Treggan Bay*. ### Is it scary? No. It is atmospheric mystery rather than horror, though it includes old remains and peril. ### Is the romance explicit? No. The queer romantic thread is gentle and low heat. ### Does this continue Noah and Leo's story? Yes. Their relationship thread develops across the book while the mystery remains the main engine. ## Page Content ## Blurb The storm should have ended by morning. Instead, it leaves Treggan Bay with a rowboat below Hollow Eye Lighthouse, a skeleton in a waterproof jacket, and three clues: a Belgian pocket pistol, a cigarette case marked *WICKED TODAY*, and a gold watch. Noah Yalland is still learning how to live in the cottage he inherited and the community that keeps pulling him closer. He would rather keep his head down after the library murder, but DS Scott Langdon brings the puzzle to his kitchen table, and Issey Ashford arrives with questions of her own. The trail leads through old money, smuggling talk, watercolours, poems, lighthouse shadows, and village loyalties that have had decades to harden. At Drift Cafe, Leo Petit offers warmth, wit, and the uneasy comfort of someone who understands that Treggan Bay's history is never only history. But when old rooms begin to speak, Noah has to decide whether some secrets were buried to protect the dead or to shield the living. *The Watchman's Secret* is the second Treggan Bay mystery: atmospheric, clue-led, coastal, gently queer, and full of old village silence. **Why you'll love it:** A darker, salt-weathered second mystery with lighthouse atmosphere, village history, Noah and Leo deepening, and secrets that reach further back than anyone wants to admit. ## Behind the Pages The Watchman's Secret leans into the part of Treggan Bay where history has not passed cleanly into the past: the lighthouse, the old watch, and the stories people chose to keep sealed. ## Source Links - Canonical HTML: https://jerntonkoi.com/books/the-watchman-s-secret/ - Markdown companion: https://jerntonkoi.com/books/the-watchman-s-secret/index.md