Faber nabs a new seaside mystery series by Jess Kidd

Faber has nabbed Nora Breen Investigates, Jess Kidd’s new seaside mystery series featuring a "wayward nun turned superior sleuth".

Libby Marshall, crime commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Susan Armstrong at C+W, and Aisling Brennan, who is covering Marshall’s parental leave, will be publishing the first book in the series, Murder at Gull’s Nest, in March 2025. Faber will be returning to Gore-on-Sea for the following two titles in the series, which will be published in 2026 and 2027.

"After thirty years in a convent, Nora Breen has thrown off her wimple and set her sights on the seaside town of Gore-on-Sea," the synopsis says. "Why there? Why now? Well, it doesn’t suit her to disclose that right now, thank you very much. Over disappointing—and sometimes downright inedible—dinners at her guest house, Nora Breen realises that her fellow lodgers are hiding something. But thanks to her powers of observation and, well, nosiness, it doesn’t take her long to get them talking."

Kidd has been nominated for awards including the CWA New Blood Dagger and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, and her books have been chosen for the BBC "Between the Covers" Book Club.

"I’m delighted that the fabulous team at Faber are publishing my first crime novel, Murder at Gull’s Nest," she said. "This is the perfect home for a series of darkly twisted detective stories with a cast of characters I’ve loved writing. I can’t wait introduce Nora Breen to my readers old and new."

Brennan added: "Jess Kidd has an incredible ear for character and her pacing is impeccable, so a crime series felt like a natural outlet for her talents. Nora Breen is an amateur sleuth for the ages, and Gore-on-Sea is the perfect destination for anyone looking to be gripped and amused in equal measure."