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Hell Bay Paperback – July 12, 2018

by Kate Rhodes (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,630 ratings
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DI Ben Kitto needs a second chance. After ten years working for the murder squad in London, a traumatic event has left him grief-stricken. He’s tried to resign from his job, but his boss has persuaded him to take three months to reconsider.

Ben plans to work in his uncle Ray’s boatyard, on the tiny Scilly island of Bryher where he was born, hoping to mend his shattered nerves. His plans go awry when the body of sixteen year old Laura Trescothick is found on the beach at Hell Bay. Her attacker must still be on the island because no ferries have sailed during a two-day storm.

Everyone on the island is under suspicion. Dark secrets are about to resurface. And the murderer could strike again at any time.
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  1. Book 1 of 7
    DI Ben Kitto Book
  2. Print length
    432 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Ltd
  5. Publication date
    July 12, 2018
  6. Dimensions
    5.12 x 1.02 x 7.8 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1471165426
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1471165429
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Ltd (July 12, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1471165426
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1471165429
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 1.02 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,630 ratings

About the author

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Kate Rhodes

Kate Rhodes

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Kate Rhodes is a bestselling British crime writer. Her latest books are the acclaimed ISLES OF SCILLY MYSTERIES, which have been optioned for TV. Kate has been passionate about the islands since holidaying there as a child, and still returns regularly to research her books. Kate's books have been nominated for the Crime Novel of the Year award, and the Library Dagger award.

Kate was born in south London, but now lives in Cambridge with her husband. She did a wide range of jobs including working in bars, being a theatre usherette, and teaching at a liberal arts college in Florida, before focusing on her writing. She works part-time as a Creative Writing Fellow at Cambridge University.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
2,630 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Susan Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2018
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Loved the setting and the story. Can’t wait for the next installment,
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Mari
4.0 out of 5 stars People are not always who you think they are, especially when there’s a murderer in the midst.
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2021
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The book took longer than I expected to arrive, at least a month, probably because it came from the U.K. but no matter, I enjoyed reading it. The pre chapter is a wonderful hook and sets the tone nicely. The ‘glass half full,’ mood of island life is conveyed by the whims of the weather and the notorious smuggling history of the Scillian island of Bryher. Local, Ben Kitto, on leave from London, is an endearing Heath Cliffesque type Detective Inspector who engages the reader with his account of a murder investigation. His story is interspersed with that of Rose’s, a local, down-on-her-luck, herbalist. Rose’s son goes missing the same day as the Island’s sweetheart is murdered. There are 2 maps to reference the layout of the archipelago and who lives where on Bryher. I found this helpful as the author juggles a lot of characters which can be a little confusing, especially with lesser characters who have similar name endings, ..thick, ...wick, etc. This is where the maps come in handy. Sentences do run on and seem unnecessarily long at times, but all in all, Hell Bay is a good read. I’m certainly intrigued enough to buy the next Ben Kitto book.
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gumgum
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2018
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Love this author, enjoyed this new series very much
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Sue Purbrick
4.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and atmospheric
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2023
A cracker of a book. A young girl with big dreams, Laura, is murdered and falls off the cliffs of her island home, the tiny Scilly island of Bryher, into the sea. DI Ben Kitto, taking time out at home from his police work in London, gets roped in to lead the investigation. Who on the island is responsible for this horrendous crime? I was drawn in by the larger than life characters, the mystery and the wonderfully atmospheric setting of this story. Ben himself is full of contradictions, and his complicated relationship with a beautiful visitor to the island confuses both of them. And then there are the strange island folk – the artist, to whom the young seem to flock, Rose with her potions and secrets, and Laura’s parents themselves with all their faults. This beautifully written and wonderfully narrated book kept me enthralled, and guessing right up to the end. Great read! I was delighted to find it’s the first in the Isles of Scilly Mysteries series. I for one will definitely be reading or listening to more of them.
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Kitties & Kindles
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2023
“DI Ben Kitto needs a second chance. After ten years working for the murder squad in London, a traumatic event has left him grief-stricken. He’s tried to resign from his job, but his boss has persuaded him to take three months to reconsider.”
So when arrives at his childhood home, he’s thrust into a missing person inquiry. And it takes off from there!
Hell Bay, The Isles of Scilly Mysteries
by Kate Rhodes was a 5 ⭐️ for me. The
narrated by Stephen Perring. I’m not a huge fan of male voices but he was the exception. I loved his voice and he was a perfect choice for this book. The story was layered and beautifully written. I wanted to go to this island and take it all in. It had lots of suspects and a good deal of mystery. I highly recommend this one.
Thanks Simon and Schuster Audio UK via NetGalley.
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S Riaz
5.0 out of 5 stars Hell Bay
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2018
I have never read anything by Kate Rhodes before, but was tempted by the start of a new series. This features D.I. Ben Kitto, who is on leave from his job in London, where he works on a murder squad, in order to consider his resignation. Haunted by the death of his previous partner, and his feelings of guilt, he has returned to his childhood home on Bryher, the smallest, inhabited island on the Isles of Scilly. With less than a hundred permanent residents, his childhood home seems the perfect place to lick his wounds and decide what the future holds.

For the moment, it consists of hard work at his uncle’s boatyard, considering his future and letting the work take over his mind. However, even before his arrival, a young girl – sixteen year old Laura Trescothick – has gone missing. When her body is found and foul play is suspected, on an island where crime is virtually unknown, Ben offers his services and is given the task of investigating the crime. The suspects though, are people he has known all his lives – friends and neighbours. With a storm having cut the island off, though, the murderer is definitely among those who live there an dit is up to Ben to discover the truth.

Bryher does not sound an idyllic place, despite the obviously beautiful setting. It is a place where locals often only have summer work, when tourists visit, where they have more than one job to survive, and where life is hard and the biggest industries are fishing, boatbuilding and tourism. It is also a place where, behind closed doors, there are unseen problems; from smuggling to domestic violence, infatuation, jealousy and financial worries. As Ben untangles the secrets and lies behind a young girls death, he has to come to terms with his past and decide his future.

I really liked this crime novel. The setting may not be overly original – an island, where you know the suspect is within the closed community – but it works well. Bryher is very much part of the storyline, and atmosphere, alongside the characters. Ben Kitto is a wonderful, brooding character and I am pleased to see from the end of this book that he will be in future books. This has all the ingredients of becoming an excellent series. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
One person found this helpful
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Barbara McLovich
4.0 out of 5 stars A good English mystery
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2018
A nicely-paced mystery situated on the island of Bryher. A teenage girl is murdered and it falls into the hands of visiting investigator Ben Kitto to find out who killed Laura. There is a generous cast of inhabitants on the tiny island to choose from, both male and female. A love interest for Ben is also thrown into the storyline, which does not detract from the plot. Also, Shadow, Ben's ever-faithful tag-along dog, gets to share in the drama, as Ben pulls no punches in trying to get to the bottom of not only one murder but eventually two victims. Since everyone on this island seems to enjoy their coffee, I will end by saying that this story was "good to the last drop."
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ellen Stanley
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2024
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This book was so gripping I couldn't put it down. The story was strong and well written. I had enjoyed it so much that I felt sorry I had finished it. To me a good sign of a great book. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
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Mme Hustwayte
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic read!
Reviewed in France on June 6, 2018
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What an absolutely fantastic book. I was totally spellbound from start to finish. A very mysterious and gripping storyline that kept me guessing until the end! Great read, highly recommend.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the book
Reviewed in Australia on February 4, 2018
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I thought this was a really good book.I liked the setting and the character of Det Kitto.I didn't guess who the murderer was,it was a total surprise.
I am looking forward to the next book.
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JenMedBookLover
4.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric island mystery
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2020
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Well hello Ben Kitto. This is a Detective who certainly makes an impression, although I have to admit that is partly because of his dog Shadow, as much of him. I'm a sucker for a wayward dog. From the minute we meet Ben, you know that he is a tortured soul, and that he is back in his childhood home as a form of escape and, let's face it, there is no better an escape from the demands of a high profile job in the city than a small fishing island off the south coast of Cornwall. Well ... ordinarily, anyway. Doesn't quite work out that way for our hero in Hell Bay because it wouldn't be much of a thriller if life was all just fishing nets and crab sandwiches now would it?

The opening to the book really sets the scene and fills the reader with the sense of isolation that envelopes the island on the dark, cold nights. We are there, with our soon to be victim, Laura Trescothick, present as she meets her fate, but the who and the why of the whole matter escapes us. That is what, ultimately, Ben sets out to discover, bringing him right back into the heart of the community he once tried hard to leave behind. And what a community it is. Kate Rhodes really does create that small town feeling with the way in which all of the islanders know each other, the honour system that still exists in the small shops and familiar feeling that welcomes Ben as he visits old friends and is drawn back into the community. It is authentic and yet so completely alien when you compare it to the lives most of us live, the life Ben would have lived in London - doors locked, people living in silos. baely knowing the name of their neighbour.

The crime that happens on Bryher shocks the island, the seemingly peaceful harmony shattered by this awful happening. And yet, as Ben digs deeper into life on the island it soon becomes clear that perhaps people don't know each other as well as they thought they did, and that there are many skeletons hidden in the dusty old closets of the town. Rumours and scandals are to be uncovered and no-one falls beyond suspicion, even Ben's own Uncle finding doubt cast over his innocence. And understandably so. As you learn more about 'island life', about the devious and underhand behaviour of some of the residents and of the less than lawful undertakings of some others, it is very hard to pinpoint who might have wanted to hurt a sixteen year old girl, and even her parents behaviour had me wondering just what it was that they were hiding.

Characters and setting are two things which really make this book stand out for me. You can tell that the author has a real love for the Islands from the way in which she has captured their beauty, and their atmosphere on the page. They became a place that I wanted to visit straight away, drawn to the idea of the dramatic landscape that I could picture so vividly, but also somewhere that I knew could be so crushingly isolating and remote if caught in the heart of a storm that it instills a sense of trepidation too. The characters are so multidimensional, so authentic, that I wanted to get to know more about them, even those who are perhaps less conventional than their neighbours. That sense of the big-bucks moguls trying to oust the long term residents from their homes, that victimisation and bullying, rang all too true and made the blood boil. But it is Ben Kitto who really stands out, a man both at home in and, slightly, at odds with the islands. He may have been running from his career, his past, but it is in his blood and he can't stay away for long. As we unravel more about what has driven him to seek solace on the islands, I became more in tune with him and even happier to be in his company.

A rich and atmospheric thriller that had me glued to the story from start to finish. I listened to the audiobook and I have to give a shout out to narrator, Stephen Perring, who did an amazing job and whose voice I still hear in my head as I read book four a couple of weeks ago. If you like your stories with an edge of mystery then I can highly recommend this one. I'm only sorry it took me so long to listen to it.
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L.D. Lil
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good read
Reviewed in France on May 17, 2018
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This book I really enjoyed. A thriller with a differece. Interesting characters and an insight into Island lives . Recommend.
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