Review: Dead Man’s Cove by Lauren St John

Title: Dead Man’s Cove

Author: Lauren St John

Series: Laura Marlin Mystery #1

Genre: Mystery, Younger Readers

Publisher: Orion

Summary (from Amazon)

When orphaned Laura Marlin moves from a children’s home to live with her uncle in Cornwall, she longs for a life of excitement just like the characters in her favourite detective novels. A real life adventure is on hand as she is deposited at her uncle’s spooky house . . . Why does her uncle, Calvin Redfern, forbid her to go to Dead Man’s Cove? What’s the truth about Tariq, the silent Indian boy who lives with the flamboyant Mukthars? Who is J? Who has left the message in a bottle for Laura to discover? Mysteries abound and who better to solve them than Laura Marlin, ace detective? Accompanied by her trusty companion, Skye, a three-legged husky, the dog she’s always wanted, Laura’s adventures begin.

What’s Good About It

It’s a charming little detective story, without being cutesy. There’s real threat and real danger, and serious issues explored within the narrative. Laura is a great character – very relatable, and admirable. She’s independent, intelligent, brave and loyal, but she has her flaws too, making her rounded and believable.

The progression of the mystery – starting with Laura trying to figure out her uncle, escalating to the grand plot behind everything gives the reader a nice sense of immersion into the story. The suspense and fear builds throughout the book slowly, leaving you on tenterhooks as the closing chapters approach.

Of course, we can’t ignore the fact that this is a children’s book – and with a main character aged 11, it is probably targetting 8-10 year olds as its main audience. One of the best things about Dead Man’s Cove is it manages to do everything I’ve mentioned above, keeping the prose simple enough for an 8 year old, yet without being condescending. I can’t say exactly what issues are being dealt with within the book without giving too much of the story away, but they are serious and complicated issues. Dead Man’s Cove challenges its audience, confronts them with some of the stark realities of the world, and it’s all the better for it.

What’s Not So Good

Some of the characters were a bit stereotyped, but they were mostly minor characters, and the main characters were developed and rounded enough for this to be easily forgiven.

Rating: 4.5/5

Summary (from Goodreads)

Off to Ireland (plus ARCs I’ve received)

I’m heading off to Ireland tomorrow for 5 days. It is a much much overdue holiday and I’m really looking forwards to it! My other half and I are heading back to a place we visited before when we first started dating. He booked it for me for a surprise. Muchos romantic, no?

I love Ireland, mostly because I’m a mythology fanatic and I love visiting places with a rich mythological history. I’ve just been swatting up on Irish faeries. May do an Irish faeries masterclass post when I get back, as they are some very interesting characters. Including the Pooka. It really made me laugh (at my own impressive sadness) when I saw this post over on Tynga’s Reviews and I already knew the answer to  the ‘What is a Pooka?’ question. I’ll have to get that book now…

Anyway, I will be taking some of my Summer Break Reading Challenge list with me. Airports are a great place to read – there’s not much else you can do and it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll be sat around waiting for a couple of hours at least. I’m hoping to read Horns by Joe Hill and maybe get started on the books I won from Waterstones. These two aren’t on my Summer Break Reading Challenge as I didn’t know I’d won them when I posted that, but I hope to read and review them anyway – they will be the first ARCs I review on my blog. How exciting!

These are the books I won:

Dead Man’s Cove, Lauren St John

Summary (from Amazon)

When orphaned Laura Marlin moves from a children’s home to live with her uncle in Cornwall, she longs for a life of excitement just like the characters in her favourite detective novels. A real life adventure is on hand as she is deposited at her uncle’s spooky house . . . Why does her uncle, Calvin Redfern, forbid her to go to Dead Man’s Cove? What’s the truth about Tariq, the silent Indian boy who lives with the flamboyant Mukthars? Who is J? Who has left the message in a bottle for Laura to discover? Mysteries abound and who better to solve them than Laura Marlin, ace detective? Accompanied by her trusty companion, Skye, a three-legged husky, the dog she’s always wanted, Laura’s adventures begin.

The Dead by David Gatward

Summary (from Amazon)

Lazarus Stone is about to turn sixteen when, one night, his normal life is ripped to shreds by a skinless figure drenched in blood.

He has a message: The Dead are coming.

Now Lazarus is all that stands in their way. To fulfil his destiny, he must confront not only the dark past of his family, but horrors more gruesome than even Hell could invent. And it all begins with the reek of rotting flesh …