Murder at Gulls Nest: A Novel (Nora Breen Investigates)

One of The Wall Street Journal’s Best Mysteries of 2025

From Jess Kidd, the bestselling author of Things in Jars who “is so good it isn’t fair” (Erika Swyler, nationally bestselling author), the first in a cozy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside town after her pen pal mysteriously disappears.

I believe every one of us at Gulls Nest is concealing some kind of secret.

1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent.

A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.

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Published Apr 8, 2025

333 pages

Average rating: 6.67

15 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Sue Dix
Mar 14, 2026
10/10 stars
As cozy murder stories go, this one is excellent. Throughout the story, Nora Breen grows on you. She starts uncertainly but grows into her own. Her instincts are eerily spot on and she learns to trust them. Mysterious disappearances, poisoning, accidents, spirits(?). I did not figure out who the murderer was and was surprised. This is such an entertaining read.

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