Murder on a Cornish Isle

In this second book of the series Donna and her family are hired to protect the home secretary, who is attending a reunion on St Michael's Mount, her friendly local policeman Joe is also there undercover. Things naturally don't go to plan.......
I'd just finished the first book in this series, The Wrecker's Curse which I'd really enjoyed, when I picked this one up. You don't have to read that one first, although it does help. Again this book is a classic cozy mystery with plenty of twists and turns in the plot, along with humour to counterbalance the more messy stuff. I like the way the whole Nightingale clan are involved in solving the mysteries, along with long-suffering Joe. Add in the location, St Michael's Mount, that I have previously visited so can readily visualise the scenes (although it was a lot quieter when is there) which gave me a book that I really enjoyed again. Definitely recommended.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

A locked isle mystery! The Nightshade family has been hired to cater a reunion of a group that served together in Iraq, including the Home Secretary, And then someone is murdered! Donna, our intrepid cozy heroine, investigates with the help (and sometimes hinderance) of her family and her buddy DS Joe Enys. It's a humorous take on the locked isle murder in a great setting with good characters, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC,. No need to read the first one to enjoy this- and I know I'm looking forward to more adventures in Cornwall.

private-investigators, Cornwall, sly-humor, situational-humor, series, verbal-humor, local-law-enforcement, reunion, veterans, snarky, small-town, small-business, threats, politicians, amateur-sleuth, infidelities, closed-circle-mystery, anaphylaxis, storms, tidal-island, romance, friction, friends, attempted-murder, investigations, murder, family-business, family-dynamics*****

Really, I have to start with a complaint about the varying names of this book. Not about the story itself!
First: this is not a boring, staid, suspenseful, detective procedural, but the investigation is good and well worth the reading time. It is a good cozy mystery with fascinating characters, sneaky twists, and incredible red herrings. Great cozy read!
Second: There is no way that any reader cannot laugh sox off! This is even more hilarious than the first episode of the Nightshade family and the Edge of the World Detective agency. The world building is fairly current but it still is a fantastic escape from the news media.
I requested and received an EARC from HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter via NetGalley. Thank you!

Another fabulous cosy crime from Jo Silva, it was great to be back in the company of the Nightshade family and the lovely Joe Enys. The book takes several twists and turns some i guessed the way it was headed but others took me by surprise. Great that it was set on St Michael’s mount in a storm so it gave it great atmosphere, you can tell the author knows her way round the Penzance area well. The humour in the book is an added bonus and you feel like it would be great to be part of the Nightshade family with their crazy quirky ways. Let’s hope Joe and Donna will finally get together at some point. Looking forward to the third instalment, as this one has left us hanging!

5* Quirky/offbeat/crazy British murder mystery.

You know when you've enjoyed a book so much that at the end you want to immediately return to page one and start again. For me, this is one such book. A complicated and wacky plot, I consider this even better than the author's previous book, The Wrecker's Curse.

The humour is thoroughly British, so might not be grasped by US readers, please don't give up, persevere, Google is there to 'translate'.

Love struck local bobby DS Joe Enys and all the Nightshade family appear in Donna's second case for the Edge of the World Detective Agency.

I'm confused. The book I read was Murder on a Cornish Isle by Jo Silva, second in the Edge of the World Detective Agency series. Goodreads lists Murder on St. Michael's Mount or Murder on the Mount, having a darkened picture for the book cover but the same story.

Thank you HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for the ARC, this review is my personal, unbiased opinion.

Firstly I would say you can read this book as a stand alone and don’t have to have read the previous book The Wreckers Curse, however I have already read that one and personally I’d recommend reading it first because you will learn so much more about the Nightshade family. You’re told what you need to know from previous happenings so you can follow the story in book no. 2, but I honestly think you will get so much more from this book if you already know some of the main characters.

Even though I’m not really a great fan of detective stories, be they police detectives or private investigators, I chose to read the first one because it is described as humorous and also because I’ve read other books by this author aka Melanie Hudson and enjoyed them. With the first one I thought, I’ll give it a go, and thoroughly enjoyed it so naturally I had to read this one because I wanted to know – “what’s next I wonder?”

The setting is perfect. A large house on an isolated island just off the mainland, accessed by a causeway but cut off by a storm. As it says in the blurb a reunion get together of old comrades who all served in one capacity or another during the war in Iraq, including the Home Secretary. They’ve hired the house to hold their party, with catering and ‘protection’ provided by none other than the Nightshade family. It’s not long before murder occurs and it’s down to Donna Nightshade and her friend Detective Sergeant Joe Enys to follow the trail and find out who dunnit.

The aforementioned Home Secretary, nicknamed Pinky is female and it wasn’t difficult at all to guess which real Home Secretary this character might be based on. It’s another fun read with lots of humour and madness but with an excellent plot, having many twists, turns and red herrings, not to mention imaginative ways to murder someone. It will certainly keep you guessing as well as amused and if there is to be a book 3? I’ll definitely be reading it.