Three Knots for a Gale

A tidal island. A dead man in a gale nobody forecast. And a knot-wife who swore she’d never tie another knot.

Stella Curnow left Merrow Holm at eighteen and never looked back. Fourteen years later she’s a loss adjuster in Port Ardent, and she has crossed the causeway for one reason only: to bury her grandmother Thirza, the island’s last knot-wife, and sell the old chandlery before the tide turns.

Then the antiques dealer who had been circling Thirza’s shop is found at the foot of the lighthouse after a gale out of a clear sky. In his fist is a Curnow wind-cord with all three knots untied. The causeway was under water all night, so whoever was up there with him is still on the island, and half the Holm thinks it was Stella.

Clearing her name means taking up the craft she ran from, reading the feelings tied into the island’s knots, and putting up with a jackdaw who steals everything that shines and talks in her late grandmother’s voice. It also means working alongside Clem Angove, the lifeboat coxswain who has never forgiven the Curnows for anything, and who may have his reasons.

And the tide has started coming in early.

Three Knots for a Gale is the first Knot-Wife Mystery: a cozy mystery with a touch of seaside magic, a slow-burn romance, an island full of neighbours who know everyone’s business, and a jackdaw who knows more than he lets on. No gore, no explicit scenes, and the killer is caught by the last page.