Reading the Ben Kitto Mysteries

The keen readers at Book Chat love a good mystery series, and among their favourites are ones with an atmospheric setting. As a group we’ve all passed around Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway series set in Norfolk, where the sea meets the sky and where Ruth, an archaeologist, delves into the Iron Age, helping with police murder cases. And we eagerly await the next Ann Cleeves, whether it’s her Vera Stanhope stories set in Northumberland or her more recent Two Rivers series set in North Devon.

Islands are particularly interesting settings – so it’s exciting that Peter May has just added a fourth book to his much-loved Lewis Trilogy (The Black Loch). We’ve read those ones too.

Recently the group has been devouring Kate Rhodes’ Ben Kitto mystery series. These books are set on the Isles of Scilly, where Ben has returned after years of working for the murder squad in London. Each book is named after a place on the islands, which are just off the southwestern coast of Cornwall. One reader commented that they always looked forward to reading about Shadow, Ben Kitto’s dog.

In the first book, Hell Bay, Ben plans to work in his uncle’s boatyard on Bryher and recover from a difficult case in London. But with the discovery of the body of a teenage girl at Hell Bay, a storm preventing any ferries arriving or departing, it is obvious the killer is still on the island. Ben can’t help but get caught up in a crime where everyone is under suspicion.

With Ruin Beach, Ben is now the Scilly Isles Deputy Chief of Police. It’s high summer, and Ben is starting to feel a little restless, when a body is discovered, anchored to the rocks of a cave on the island of Tresco. What at first seems like a tragic accident soon looks suspicious as numerous motives for killing the professional diver bubble to the surface. But Ben will have his work cut out to get the locals to talk.

The small community on St Agnes is the focus of book number three, Burnt Island, where a charred body is discovered on bonfire night. The story pits locals and traditions against newcomers and their modern ways. When another body is found with the same MO, Ben realises there could be more deaths in the pipeline if he doesn’t quickly find the killer.

The fourth book is Pulpit Rock. It’s a scorching summer on St Mary’s and Ben and his friends are in training for a Swimathon when they find the body of a woman hanging from Pulpit Rock and dressed in a bridal gown. Soon more female victims are in the killer’s sights while Kitto’s investigation is under scrutiny. Whatever he does, the killer seems to be one step ahead.

We love the evocatively-named landmarks in this series, with the next book, Devil’s Table, adding to the collection. We’re on St Martins, where two children are attacked in a field. It’s a cold foggy day, and only Ethan manages to get home, raising the alarm about his missing sister, Jade. Their family is unpopular on the island, so could this be a crime with revenge at its heart?

Ben Kitto’s career in the Met catches up with him in The Brutal Tide, in particular his dealings with the ruthless gang leader, Craig Travis. Now Travis is heading for the Scilly Isles looking for payback. But Ben has as lot going on with a mysterious death to investigate and his first child due any day. Ben has built a new life on the islands, but is he about to lose everything?

With Hangman Island, Ben is perplexed over the disappearance of an experienced sailor who has been out in his boat in calm seas. The discovery of a hand washed ashore suggests foul play - a clue attached to the index finger could only have been left by the perpetrator. A killer on the loose and a community inclined to close ranks add to Ben’s difficulties - recurrent themes in the series.

8 October 2024

Back to Library Blog