Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd review: 'enjoyable but in need of editing'

There is much to enjoy in this new crime novel from Jess Kidd, but a shorter, more tightly edited version could have been even better, writes Allan Massie

This looked promising: a seaside resort shortly after the end of the Second World War, a boarding house, a murder. It promised an excursion into the territory of black-and-white movies and, more especially, of Patrick Hamilton, the neglected but never quite forgotten master of this sort of thing. I wasn't even deterred by the investigation of whatever crime or crimes might have been committed was entrusted to a middle-aged lady who has spent the last 30 years in a convent and working as a nurse in the infirmary. After all, detection in the Golden, or at least Silver, Age of the crime novel was often undertaken by all sorts of amateurs, even elderly ladies, among whom Miss Marple is only the most famous.

Here Norah, no longer a nun, has come in search of a friend, a former novice who had left the convent promising that she would keep in touch with her. She had come to live in a boarding house, the Gulls Nest, in what seems to be a seaside town in Kent, but then the letters suddenly stopped coming.

So Nora, in search of her friend, has come to the Gulls Nest, and it is every bit as dreadful as one could hope. There is a strangely distant landlady who has a silent and disturbing young daughter, a bad-tempered housekeeper whose cooking is dreadful. The permanent guests are an odd bunch, just as they should be: a barman in a local hotel who operates on the black market; an elderly gentleman who runs a Punch and Judy show; a young couple, the husband seemingly disturbed by his wartime experiences; and a rather mysterious young man who may be a refugee from Central Europe, or perhaps not.

They all remember Nora's friend Freida, but have nothing to say about her, explaining only that she simply left one day, leaving no forwarding address. There is also a rather strange vicar, a rabbit-fancier, although he doesn't play much part in the story, and a rather bright but perhaps not entirely trustworthy maid. It is a set-up full of potential, and in truth there is much to enjoy, it not being long before the young husband is found dead, poisoned. Murder or suicide? Nora finds it hard to persuade the local police inspector, Rideout, of her belief that it's the former and may also have some connection with her friend's disappearance. The relationship between Nora and Inspector Rideout is rather well done, quite classically done indeed, as is the feel of the shabby seaside resort.

This all ought to be thoroughly enjoyable and indeed much of it is, though the emergence of Nora as a woman capable of putting an obnoxious young man, son of the town's leading businessman, in his place is done in a fashion that does rather more than strain credulity. Still, even a novel set 70 or more years back must today have its moment of triumphant feminism. One can accept that, and the young lout deserves to get his come-uppance, even though the description of this belongs to a farcical novel or even a Carry On film.

No, the disappointment lies not in the author's conception, not even in the way the book lurches from what is well done to what is scarcely credible, but simply in the fact that it is too long, scenes and, more especially, conversations being carried on long after their point has been made. Consequently, the reader's attention is likely to flag.

In short, as with so much crime fiction today, the book cries out for some severe editing. This, as I say, is common. Many novels come from small publishers who often cannot afford the services of a good editor, and this, though sad, is understandable. Murder at Gulls Nest, however, comes from Faber, a firm one would expect to have good editors, even today. The absence of such an editor, who might have cut the book by at least a quarter, has done no service to the evidently talented author. The publishers have announced that there will be a follow-up - another Nora Breen novel. I hope that this time they supply Jess Kidd with the editor her talent deserves.

Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd, Faber & Faber, £18