THE CHANNEL ISLANDS HARBOUR MURDER: An addictive seaside village British cozy mystery

The Gull Bay Mysteries #3

by Ashley Cain

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 13, 2026

Reviews

[Cidney]

This book is set in Gull Bay on one of the Channel Islands where young April Hart has taken over the running of a cafe which is attracting quite a lot of customers on account of its very good food! There are 4 widowed ladies who come in each week for lunch and a chinwag, but on that morning a newbie joins them, Samantha Jarvis, who is recently widowed but who is a very unlikeable woman, she pours scorn on all of them and finds ways to ridicule them too. Not a pleasant lady, then a handsome blonde man arrives at the cafe but before he can sit down Samantha looks at him and gets up and leaves, he takes her place with a sort of 'what did I say' look about him? The ladies were thinking the same, had they met before, they asked him he said no and began to talk with the ladies, they all liked him and even April thought he looked an interesting guy! The next morning there is a commotion on the quayside and the place is swamped with police, a body has been found in the harbour, it turns out to be the obnoxious newly widowed Samantha Jarvis. I don't think anyone will be mourning her anytime soon but who killed her, that is the question.

The police take an interest in April because she had seen Samantha wearing a very expensive bracelet when she arrived but before the women left she saw it on the floor. April picked it up and checked with the other 4 ladies if it was one of theirs, no, it was Sam's, as it was rush time April left the bracelet on the table because her staff were wanting to clear tables and the ladies had gone now and Sam couldn't find it on the table nor on the floor later. She told the police the next day when Sam's body turned up in the harbour and said she had checked with her staff and the ladies but they didn't know what had happened to the bracelet.

The ladies were angry and upset at the thought that Sam had "allegedly" told the police that one of them must have picked it up and kept it. Sam realising that was not what she exactly said but needed to visit all 4 of them as she heard they are boycotting her cafe in future, she took a gift of a cake to each of their houses and apologised if her message to the police had been misconstrued, some of them were okay but some were not so okay, however she had done what she could. Then the nice lad, Ben, invited April to join him on his boat along with a local guy and his new girlfriend and Sam took a picnic from the cafe, she hadn't taken a swimsuit but the girlfriend handily had two spare in her bag and Sam went into a bedroom to change and caught her toe on a hard object under the bed, it turned out to be a case full of jewellery and on the top was the missing £28,000 bracelet...

[Ruth Fuchs]

I enjoyed reading the first book in the series and started the second one right after. The theme was interesting, but I had slight doubts about the protagonist, April, and whether she would become too annoying in the long run. Now, with the third book, I can say: yes, she is very annoying. Her judgment of character is terrible, she is as prudish as a teenager, and she is constantly so full of self-doubt that you wonder how she managed to become a successful businesswoman. In the end, I skimmed the book because I wanted to know if my suspicion regarding the culprit was correct. It was, but that's beside the point. Although I find the setting and some of the supporting characters quite interesting, I will not continue the series. April is annoying.

[Kirsty]

I'm sure it's a perfectly reasonable book, but I really don't much like it. I've been persevering with the series, thinking I just need to aclimatise and I'll start properly enjoying them, but I think the problem is that I don't like most of the characters. I can't recommend them at all, as I've only managed to read one all the way through, and have been jumping great chunks of the others to find out whodunnit without having to read the lot. Not for me.

[Avalon]

Channel islands harbour murder

Intrigue, romance, family ties, friendship, community. All tie in for a page turning lovely read. Really enjoying this series and looking forward to the next one.

[Mrs Brenda]

Brilliant book, absolutely loved this series

[Avalon Sellars]

Intrigue, romance, friendship, family ties, community are all ingredients for this page turning novel full of loveable characters. Enjoying this fun series