‘The Mermaid's Cry’ by Kate Rhodes

Published by Orenda,
16 July 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-917764-32-2 (PB)

Inspector Ben Kitto of the Scilly Islands police force is in mourning for his wife, who died in a tragic accident a few months before this book begins. He has tried to escape painful memories by taking a year's leave from the police and moving to Penzance on the mainland with his small son Noah and his faithful wolfhound Shadow.

But crime dogs Ben's footsteps. Taking a sleepless Noah for a walk one night, he sees a figure snatch a baby from its stroller and throw it into the sea. He dives in and rescues the infant, who has a narrow escape but survives. He finds himself acclaimed as a hero, much against his will, and is invited by Penzance's head of detectives DCI Lynne Farraday to become SIO of the investigation. After another child is thrown into water and is put on life support, he reluctantly gives up his carpentry job and accepts. 

There's a clear connection with an old Cornish myth, the Mermaid of Zennor; small plaster mermaids and charms keep appearing, near where the children were snatched and in other locations. The investigation becomes entangled with the Burning Sky Festival, a major tourist attraction which has events taking place a few miles away in Zennor. Ben's first task as SIO is to narrow down the list of suspects, who all appear to be connected in some way with the festival. 

As devotees of this highly visual series have come to expect, there are plenty of well-realized characters to enjoy, some familiar, most new. From the Scillies, Ben Kitto's childhood friend and confidante Zoe is headlining the Burning Sky Festival and arrives a few days in advance; and his taciturn uncle Ray, who taught him the carpentry skills he is using, comes for a visit. 

Ben has made friends in Penzance: motherly Caitlin Freer and her more intense daughter Ruth, who run the day nursery Noah attends when Ben is working; his obliging and good-natured neighbour Jim Kernow; amiable Denny, his boss at the carpentry shop, and his generous wife Sarah; Mick, his songwriter colleague; and DCI Farraday, who has hidden depths. There's mysterious Arthur Goss, who makes musical boxes; Shannon, the almost-drowned baby's mother, and her own mother, well-organized Pauline. Less friendly are unscrupulous Luke Pascoe, local reporter who doesn't care who he tramples on to get a story, and resentful DS Carnforth, who dislikes his boss's people-friendly approach. Flamboyant and persistent Freya Lennox is a leading light in the festival. 

The locations in Penzance come to almost cinematic life too: Ben's shabby rented house which Ray takes in hand; the Freers' nursery, filled with colour and enthusiasm; the carpentry workshop, and Arthur Goss's cluttered but well organised shed; the down-at-heel estate where Shannon lives with her baby. And of course, Penzance itself, bursting with noisy summer holidaymakers. 

Regular readers may be glad to see Ben Kitto return home to his comfort zone, as it's hinted, he will, but a brief foray into previously uncharted territory is no bad thing, especially in Kate Rhodes's more than capable hands. The Mermaid's Cry will certainly gain her new readers alongside the many, like me, who are already hooked on the series.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Kate Rhodes was born in London. She has a PhD in modern American literature and has taught English at British and American universities. She spent several years working in the southern states of America, first in Texas, then at a liberal arts college in Florida. Kate’s first collection of poems Reversal was published in 2005, her second collection, The Alice Trap was published in 2008. The Guardian described her poems as “pared back and fast-moving, the short lines full of an energetic lightness of touch”. Kate has been awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship, and her poems have been shortlisted and won prizes in a number of competitions including the Bridport Prize and the Forward Prize. Crossbones Yard was Kate’s first crime novel. Hell Bay is the first of a new series featuring DI Ben Kitto. There are now nine books in this series. Kate is currently writing full-time and lives in Cambridge with her husband Dave Pescod, a writer and film maker.

www.katerhodesbooks.co.uk  

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.