Jemima Jago used to live on St Morwenna in the Scilly Islands but after leaving as a traumatised teenager never thought she'd return. Now an expert in antique books and local historic resources she is enticed back by the chance to catalogue a recently donated collection from the ancestral home of her one time best friend. Unfortunately also still there is her old nemesis, Mrs Reddy, and finding the elderly woman dead wasn't the homecoming she'd been hoping for.

The local police chief, who also remembers Jem as the wild child she once was, has his sights set on retiring on a high by arresting her for murder and closing his highest profile case but that is before a second body is discovered. With Jemima determined to find out what happened, while trying to silence the ghosts of her past, she may be the next person in the killer’s sights.

Although I have not read any of this author's other work and had no idea what to expect I enjoyed this book. The isolated nature of the islands added a different dimension to the storyline and the local reliance on water taxis was definitely unusual. Although the island of St Morwenna is fictional the saint herself does exist as does the area's economic reliance on tourism.

There were a few things other than whodunnit to work out with some more difficult than others but all were enjoyable. There were a few unnecessary Americanisms as well as the overuse of local nicknames which were annoying but overall there are definite signs this is a good new series set in a beautiful British location.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the opinions expressed are my own. I enjoyed this relaxing summer read which I would give 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

A fun and fast paced read! Jem Jago is back in St. Morwenna. She is a librarian and came to catalogue a collection of books. Unfortunately coming home to a murder and having everyone think it was her wasn’t how she imaged. She works hard to clear her name and re connect with old friends.
#ADeathatSeascapeHouse #NetGalley

A quick easy read!
Jem Jago is a librarian and she returns to the Scilly Isles to catalogue a collection of books. Jem left St. Morwenna under a cloud when she was 14 , so she is apprehensive about returning.
On the day Jem arrives there is a murder and all eyes turn to Jem , so she begins her own amateur investigation, whilst rekindling childhood friendships.

I found the first part of the book a bit hard going and boring , but by the middle of the story the pace picked up and redeemed itself. I found the characters all had depth and the type of people you may imagine live in a close knit island community.
Jem seems a despondent character at the start of the story , but we learn more about her and her life and this explains her low spirits, but by the conclusion we see the real Jem Jago.
After the slow start I found the story an enjoyable cozy mystery and look forward to reading the next in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this arc copy .

This was an interesting read, however, a little more descriptive of the bloody murder than usual in a cozy. The whole book is very descriptive. I liked the town setting in Cornwall. You do get to find out why she left originally. I also liked the other characters in the book. I look forward to what happens next.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really enjoyed this thriller and will be looking out for Book No. 2. Great storyline and great characters. Liked it

I wanted a change of pace from fantasy and science fiction so this seemed to fit the bill. This is the first in a series and has promise but not all elements of the story gelled for me.
A murder mystery set in the Scillies, off the Cornish coast and on the island of St.Morwenna. Our protagonist is Jem Jago, now a librarian, who grew up on the islands, left after a tragedy and has been living in London until her recent return. Lured back by the opportunity to curate a rare collection of books donated by the local first family her return is not without reservations as tragic events from her childhood and the hatred of the community continue to haunt her. On her first evening back she goes to confront her nemesis Mrs Reddy who may have stolen an item of value from the book collection. When Jem arrives at Seascape House she finds Mrs. Reddy dead and so a whole world of trouble unfurls...
With the help of her friends Pauley, Micki and Rhys combined with many hours of reading crime novels Jem sleuths it out and charms the new chief of police Hatch in the process.
There were some predictable elements, and some of the swiftness of connections made between characters seemed unlikely. Some threads seem to drop suddenly - for example Hatch is introduced, Jem unbares her soul to him and then he fades to the background.
However as a librarian I appreciated this analogy - "One of the best things about being librrian was constantly drinking in knowledge, like a blue whale straining the ocean for krill." I would read the next installment to see if Jem actually gets round to doing any of her collection curating!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC - all views are my own.

This was a weird one. The genre is one I like but this one did not impress. The characters are not great and their motivations are never clear to me. Jem and Micki get to know each other a bit too quickly and conveniently? The way the scenery was described was interesting and a saviour in this book.

I really wanted to love this book but I couldn’t connect. I think the main character Jem was interesting enough to carry a story but I didn’t understand how she instantly became best friends with Mickie and ended up telling a stranger her darkest memory after not talking about it for years and years. The pacing seemed a bit off in that respect.

The rest of the characters were weak and the mystery fairly predictable.

This one just wasn’t for me.

An easy enjoyable read. I liked that it was set on the Isles of Scilly an area I have never visited. Jem is persona non grata on her home island due to a fatal accident in her childhood for which she was held responsible. However, she returns to take up a temporary job and on her first night finds the body of an old woman who was her Nemesis as a child. She is immediately accused of being the killer. She searches to find the real culprit but not before another body is found.

I enjoyed this first entry in the Jemima Jago series. Jem finds it difficult to go back to St. Morwenna to deal with a special and potentially valuable book collection, and to face events from her past. There are some very unlikeable characters from Jem's past and it's no surprise when Jem finds herself in the midst of a murder enquiry. As Jem faces her fears, she rebuilds relationships and helps to unravel the murder mystery.

Jem has lived on the Island of St Morwenna as a child until she left at 14 and now - 20 years later - she has a job to do as a librarian. But going back is not always easy. The people are still judging Jem for a horrible accident and the fact Jem discovers an old enemy murdered is not helping her case. The people of the Island include her old boyfriend Rhys and new police sergeant Hack. Jem has a knack for sleuthing it seems and an eye for detail.

I would not really class this a cozy mystery. It has a different vibe to it. I really enjoyed it and look forward to the next.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of A Death at Seascape House by Emma Jameson in exchange for an honest review. Jemima Jago has a job as a Special Collections Librarian. The job entails her living on St. Morwena for up to a month. She had lived with her grandmother on St. Morwena, but moved at age 14 when her grandmother died. Now she will have to face her demons from her childhood. Jem finds Mrs Reddy, her nemesis, the most disliked woman on St. Morwena, dead.
This was a great story to read, a fun cozy mystery that was hard to put down. It had such an odd assortment of people on the island.

I'm not sure if that book should count as a cosy mystery since there is nothing cosy about it.
Setting a book in a picturesque setting is not enough to call it cosy, unfortunately. There's drama, there's trauma, there are vile people.

The characters are unlikable, and I'm not talking about the ones who should be perceived like that. There is not one person that I liked. The main character is a doormat. One would think that leaving the island that treated her wrong, living many years in London would toughen her up, but no. Jem gets back to the island and still can't utter one word to defend herself. She's a grown woman and yet every time someone gives her a stink eye she just blushes and does nothing. Like, ffs. I can't stand people like that in real world, not to mention in a novel.
Her so-called friends are no better. I'd understand why Rhys is how he is, but Paulie? Jesus, I'd probably never want to speak to a person like that. Ever.

Talking about friends. Jem meets Micki, the bartender, on her way to the island and after like 5 minutes they're the best of friends. She tells her her life story and then Micki is like by her side all.the.time. It feels like Micki was their childhood friend the way she eased her way into thestory.
I think it would be so much better if she were written as an actual childhood friend, as it wuld be more believable.

As to the mystery part, it's neither engaging nor surprising. I didn't really care about how it was going to end.

It's so obvious that in the next book(s) there will be a strong love triangle - Jem-Hack-Rhys and I'm not interested in that.

I really enjoyed this cosy murder mystery. I thought the setting was so beautiful. The characters were so relatable. I knew it was going to be a fun read when Jem and Micki were playing the cold readings game at the beginning. Loved the twists in the book as you try to work out what happened and who did it. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

1 star
Nope, absolutely not. I do not read books involving "auras and readings". Did not finish and I absolutely do not recommend this book.

What a great way to start off a new series and introducing a new character. Being a former librarian assistant and having visited Cornwall many times, this book was a winner for me. I can't wait to see more books in this series and more about the other characters in the book. Entertaining read for the spring.

A really good mystery! This was compelling, Addictive read. I enjoyed the characters. The storytelling was just amazing!

This is a fast read, cozy mystery. While the mystery was predictable, I enjoyed it.
Jemima (Jem) Jago is offered her dream job as a librarian, to catalog Cornwalls collection of shipwreck records. The only catch is that she will have to return to her home island of St. Morwenna. Jem left years ago after a horrible tragedy claimed the life of one of her friends, Cam, and everyone on the island blamed her. But she is determined to put the past behind her and do a good job with the collection. But nothing ever goes well for Jem on St. Morwenna. Her first night on the island lands her in jail, after she finds the murdered body of Mrs. Reddy, the island busy body who was the driving force in getting Jem to leave the island all those years ago. Can she clear her name and reconnect with the friends she lost all those years ago?
I love the characters in this story and am looking forward to the next book.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Jemima Jago left the Scilly Isles and moved to London as soon as she was of legal age. She didn’t expect to go home again, but first she moved to Penzance and then she took an assignment evaluating a private library of a childhood friend and is back on St. Morwenna facing the people who let her down as a child. When she discovers a potentially valuable book was stolen from the library, she goes to confront the woman accused of taking it only to find her murdered in her home.

With the old woman having been one of the worst tormentors of everyone in St. Morwenna, many people believe Jem came back to exact her revenge for the cruelty the woman showed her and her Grandmother all those years ago. With her reputation and future on the line, Jem must find the murderer and clear her name before the police chief makes up the evidence to frame her before he retires.

I seem to be spending a lot of time in Cornwall lately and this is another new series set in the Scilly Isles. First in the series, this one shows great promise for future entries in the series. Grab a copy and travel to Cornwall for awhile.

A Death at Seascape House was a fun and quick mystery read, featuring librarian Jemima (Jem) Jago. While she's not a detective, her years as a librarian reading many books and learning the ins and outs of mysteries and murderers help her to find clues and sort through the mysterious killings of two people on her home island, St. Morwenna. The setting was fun, the characters were enjoyable, and this was a great first book to set up a series. I liked the friendships developed in this book, and the hints of romance that I'm sure will be further developed in future books. I did find the mystery to be pretty predictable, but it was still enjoyable. 3.5 star rating from me. Thank you so much for the advanced copy, NetGalley and Bookouture!