Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd

This is the second book in Jess Kidd’s new 1950s mystery series, Nora Breen Investigates. I enjoyed the first one, Murder at Gulls Nest, but I thought this one was even better. It’s not essential to read them in order as they are completely separate mysteries, but you’ll have a better understanding of some of the characters and their relationships if you do.

In the previous book, former nun Nora Breen arrives in the English seaside town of Gore-on-Sea to investigate a friend’s disappearance. With that mystery now solved, she has decided to stay on at the Gulls Nest guest house for the winter so she can look for a job and build a new life for herself in the town. Soon, though, Nora finds herself caught up in another mystery – the murder of medium Doreen Chimes during a séance at her Gore-on-Sea ‘spirit lounge’. The séance had been attended by a small group of guests including Nora’s new friend, Detective Inspector Rideout, and there’s reason to believe that all of their lives could now be in danger.

With Rideout himself a possible target, along with the other séance attendees, he and Nora need to track down the murderer as quickly as possible. The only clue they have are the letters E.V.E. – part of a message Mrs Chimes was supposedly receiving from the spirit world at the moment of her death. Who is Eve and who was the message intended for? To find out, Nora will need to ask a lot of questions – and, fortunately, she’s just been offered a job as reporter for the Gore-on-Sea Herald, which gives her the perfect excuse to speak to people and hunt for information.

One of my favourite things about the first book was Nora’s relationship with Rideout and I was pleased to see it develop further in this book (although if you’re hoping for a great romance, I think there’s still a long way to go). Nora also has another suitor, the photographer Hosmer, so I suspect someone is going to be disappointed! There are plenty of other colourful characters as well, such as Irene, the Gulls Nest housekeeper, whose cooking leaves a lot to be desired, eight-year-old Dinah, who doesn’t speak but watches and listens, and even Father Conway, the seagull who taps at Nora’s bedroom window every morning.

The mystery is an interesting one and with this being the second book in the series, I felt that we got straight into the action more quickly than in the first book as less time needed to be spent introducing the main characters and setting the scene. I had my suspicions about the identity of the culprit early on and I was right, but there were still other things that I didn’t guess and I enjoyed watching Nora and Rideout carrying out their investigations. With Rideout’s life at risk, a lot of the detective work falls to Nora, much to his frustration! This also gives his assistant, Constable Griggs, a chance to get more involved and his help proves invaluable to Nora towards the end. Another important clue is provided by one of Doreen Chimes’ cats, whom Nora rescues from the medium’s house and brings home to Gulls Nest.

Overall, I found this an entertaining novel, slightly stronger than the first one. I love the 1950s seaside setting and will be looking out for more books in the series. First, though, I’m looking forward to reading Jess Kidd’s new standalone novel, Little Spark, which is being published in July.

Thanks to Faber and Faber Ltd for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

21 thoughts on “Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd”

    • Helen says:
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      Helen's avatar

      Definitely not much of a romance here – although there are the seeds of one, maybe! I really like these books and am looking forward to the next one.

  4. Cyberkitten says:
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    Cyberkitten's avatar

    With a name like Gore-on-Sea I think they were *asking* for trouble! Sounds FUN and I think the 1950’s is rather underrepresented in historical fiction…

  6. Staircase Wit says:
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    Staircase Wit's avatar

    I got the first book from the library and it was due before I had a chance to read it. Thanks for the reminder!

  8. Charlotte says:
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    Charlotte's avatar

    I still need to read the first of these but I’m definitely intrigued by this installment. Any kind of mystery involving a medium tends to catch my eye and the setting sounds refreshing. I love that an important clue is provided by a cat too, intriguing. Hope you love Little Spark. I added that to my TBR after reading your recent post including it, it sounds so good 😍

    • Helen says:
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      Helen's avatar

      It’s probably best to start with the first book, although I don’t think it would be a problem if you read this one first. They are both entertaining books. I loved the medium character in this one and was sorry she got murdered so near the beginning. And yes, Little Spark does sound good!

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