The Seaside Murders is second in ‘The Secret Detective Agency’ series by Helena Dixon and has all the benefits of coming after the introductory story. A more dynamic plot, key characters established, interesting newcomers, danger, bravery and surprises. The first book The Secret Detective Agency took place at Arthur Cilentro’s home in Devon so it is helpful to see detectives Jane Treen, Arthur and his manservant Benson sent to investigate a mysterious death only yards from Jane’s childhood home in Kent. A body has been found on the beach at Ashbourne, the circumstances of death are unknown and there is a strange tattoo on the victim’s arm. Jane’s boss the Brigadier suspects a connection with local looting, theft and black marketeering. We learn more about Jane, making her character more empathetic and less spiky, especially when her actress mother Elsa unexpectedly arrives. Annoying as Elsa is, she acts as a catalyst for the relationship of the investigative trio, making them more of a team.
The parallel investigations get off to a tricky start. There is an unmotivated inspector and an annoying government inspector. Although Jane grew up in Ashbourne, she finds many incomers due to the war. Land girls working on farms, Italian prisoners of war at a local camp, a rich landowner and magistrate plus a recently arrived schoolmistress, an artist and new managers at the village pub.
The deceased is identified as an Italian prisoner, one of a government experiment using approved POWs to help beleaguered farmers produce enough food to feed the population. Antonio Russo and his friend Matteo Gambini, who both grew up on farms in Italy, are imprisoned at the local POW camp and adjudged safe to work alongside land girls on a local farm. Now one of them is dead.
Overall I enjoyed this more than the first. Firstly, there was less smoking by Jane and more gentle interaction and less confrontation between Jane and Arthur. I also confess to being very curious about Benson and am looking forward to learning more about his background. There’s an interesting hint about his previous work with Arthur, so fingers crossed.
This is a new take on the usual wartime setting and I’m curious to see what happens in the third book.

Here’s my review of the first in this new series:-
THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY #1SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY

And my reviews of Helena Dixon’s Kitty Underhay 1930s cosy mystery series:-
MURDER AT THE DOLPHIN HOTEL #1MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ENDERLEY HALL #2MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE PLAYHOUSE #3MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER ON THE DANCE FLOOR #4MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER IN THE BELLTOWER #5MISSUNDERHAY 

If you like this, try:-
‘A Very English Murder’ by Verity Bright #1LadyEleanorSwift
‘The Various Haunts of Men’ by Susan Hill #1SimonSerrailler
‘Fortune Favours the Dead’ by Stephen Spotswood #1Pentecost&Parker

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SEASIDE MURDERS by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-85u via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-

London 1941. Secret government worker Miss Jane Treen is addicted to coffee and cigarettes. Unfortunately, her new partner prefers tea and is asthmatic. The Secret Detective Agency is first in a new series of cosy mysteries by Helena Dixon, author of the 1930s Kitty Underhay detective books. Starting the first book of a new series is always a risky thing, it takes time to set up characters, back stories, context and as a result the pace can be slow. But I enjoy the Kitty books and the wartime setting of The Secret Detective Agency is another plus. Miss Treen works for an unnamed government department running Operation Exodus, her team of secret agents assist the escape of double agents from Germany to the UK. But Jane’s agents are dying and when Polly Flinders is killed at a safe house in Devon, Jane is sent to investigate. Her boss, referred to as The Brigadier, teams her up with asthmatic code breaker Arthur Cilentro. They make an unlikely pairing, especially in the first half of the book. Chain-smoking Jane brings her long-haired cat Marmaduke with her to stay at Arthur’s house, Half Moon Manor. While the two investigators sniff around, asking questions, squabbling and sulking as they go, Arthur’s manservant Benson is the grown-up.
This is a story of wartime spies, treason, double dealing and multiple identities with rather confusing code names. By the time Miss Treen and Mr Cilentro have relaxed together enough to call each other Jane and Arthur, the death toll has increased. Fuelled by gossip in an isolated wartime village where everyone’s business is well-known, the two detectives realise that everyone is a suspect.
It is inevitable that the trio – don’t forget the indispensable Benson, who is always on hand with the essentials without which Jane and Arthur would simply fail – will morph into a team by the end of this novel. I expected Arthur to be quite bookish; he is, but also a fussy bachelor with severe breathing problems and a sharp analytical mind. I expected Jane to be an efficient professional young woman from London, responsible for a top secret mission; she is, but as a detective on the ground she can be naïve and not tight-lipped enough. She also ignores Arthur’s asthma. I got a bit fed up of her blowing smoke in Arthur’s direction and letting her cat into his sitting room. Thankfully as the story progresses, the two learn to appreciate each other’s skills and their relationship becomes less spiky.
More a cosy wartime mystery than cosy crime, this is a good start to a new series which offers something different. Irritations aside, this was a quick enjoyable read. I enjoyed the wartime espionage setting and the idea of a government detective agency specialising in crimes too secret for the police. It’s easy to have unreasonably high expectations of a new series and, looking back to my review of the first Kitty Underhay mystery Murder at the Dolphin Hotel, it too was a 3* read for me. I’m now a firm fan of Kitty and Matt’s investigations in 1930s Dartmouth.
Coming soon is the second instalment of Jane and Arthur’s investigations, The Seaside Murders. Hints about Jane’s family background, including a glamorous actress mother, are sure to become storylines in future novels.

Here are my reviews of books in the Kitty Underhay 1930s cosy mystery series by Helena Dixon:-
MURDER AT THE DOLPHIN HOTEL #1MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ENDERLEY HALL #2MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE PLAYHOUSE #3MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER ON THE DANCE FLOOR #4MISSUNDERHAY

If you like this, try:-
‘Dying in the Wool’ by Frances Brody #1KateShackleton
‘Hiding the Past’ by Nathan Dylan Goodwin #1MortonFarrier
‘The Heat of the Day’ by Elizabeth Bowen

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-84X via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-