The Bay by L J Ross
Cozy crime set in SANTA BARBARA
Ten Great Books set in ST IVES, Cornwall
10th September 2025
Ten great books set in St Ives, Cornwall, St Ives, a picturesque town on the Cornish coast, is a haven for artists and tourists alike. Known for its stunning light, which has attracted painters for centuries, it is home to the Tate St Ives gallery and the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. The town’s narrow, winding streets are a delight to explore, lined with independent shops, cafes, and art galleries. Its four main beaches, including the popular Porthmeor Beach, are perfect for surfing and sunbathing. A working harbour adds to its charm, where fishing boats bob alongside pleasure craft. St Ives’ unique blend of artistic heritage, natural beauty, and bustling seaside life makes it a truly special destination.
Here are ten of our favourites books set in the town.
A St Ives Christmas Mystery by Deborah Fowler
When tragedy brings Merrin McKenzie back to St Ives, she knows adjusting might take time, even with the comfort of Christmas back in her hometown. Stepping back from her career as a solicitor, she agrees to clean holiday rentals for her friends who own cottages nearby. She anticipates dirty laundry and sandy floors, but she didn’t sign up for a dead body, neatly tucked up in one of the guest beds.
The police are baffled by the young man’s identity and the strangeness of his death. For Merrin, however, coincidences are beginning to stack up. Even though Inspector Louis Peppiatt is sceptical of her theories, something sinister is hiding beneath the festive surface of this charming seaside town. As the case unfolds, a dark side to the Cornish coast emerges.
Death Comes to St Ives by Jo Silva
Amateur sleuth Donna Nightshade should really be used to being accused of murder by now – after all, she’s found herself the prime suspect in nearly every case she’s investigated in the past year! – but when St. Ives sees not one, not two, but three suspicous deaths in quick succession, and Donna finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time for each one, she’s forced to defend her good name once again.
Yet when she’s faced with unfinished business – in the form of DS Joe Enys, assigned to stick to her side and oversee her investigation – she realises there are some interesting benefits to having a murderous reputation…
Book 3 in The Edge of the World Detective Agency series follows Donna ‘Deadly’ Nightshade – former florist turned private eye – in her bid to crack a new case amidst the dramatic cliffs and secret coves of Cornwall.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Miranda Dickinson
Seren MacArthur is living a life she never intended. Trying to save the Cornish seaside business her late father built – while grieving for his loss – she has put her own dreams on hold and is struggling. Until she discovers a half-finished seaglass star on her favourite beach during an early morning walk. When she completes the star, she sets into motion a chain of events that will steal her heart and challenge everything she believes.
Jack Dixon is trying to secure a better life for daughter Nessie and himself. Left a widower and homeless when his wife died, he’s just about keeping their heads above water. Finding seaglass stars completed on Gwithian beach is a bright spark that slowly rekindles his hope.
Seren and Jack are searching for their missing pieces. But when they meet in real life, it’s on the opposing sides of a battle. Jack is managing the redevelopment of a local landmark, and Seren is leading the community campaign to save it.
Both have reason to fight – Seren for the cause her father believed in, Jack for his livelihood. But only one can win. With so much at stake, will they ever find what they are really looking for?
Half a Pound of Tuppenny Rice by David Coubrough
Each summer a group of families holiday together in St. Ives, Cornwall, but in 1972 their lives are shattered and they never meet up again. In a lane in the village of Zennor a hotel porter is found fatally poisoned. Later that week the body of another man is washed ashore. Grant Morrison, then aged seventeen, has long been troubled by the two deaths and their aftermath and, decades later, decides that the time has come to uncover the truth.
High Tide in St Ives by Cora Devine
It’s high tide in St Ives, and a storm is brewing…
Two women catch the train from London’s Paddington station, each embarking upon the long journey to Cornwall, but each with a very different story. Beautiful but troubled Senara is returning to face the music after five years on a Greek island; and earnest, mysterious, Malory seeks a new beginning.
Meanwhile in the snug bar of a cosy inn in St Ives, Kit and Zack are plotting to find a suitable girlfriend for the hapless Dan. But can you really find love by following a list of rules?
Romantic and witty, High Tide in St Ives weaves a tale through a cast of memorable characters, as their destinies unfold in the quaint streets, beautiful beaches, and surrounding countryside, of the old fishing village of St Ives.
Time Out of Mind by Shirley Wright
Faced with the apparent wreck of her life – two deaths which haunt her, a failing marriage and a soulless job – Rose Little flees London for Penmaris, a quiet Cornish cottage where she plans to paint and consider what to do next. The cottage has other ideas and Rose is quickly drawn into the tragic disappearance of its previous owner. Obsessed with solving the mystery, will Rose lay her own ghosts to rest? Cornwall has an ancient past. Its landscape is haunted by standing stones and Neolithic burial grounds. ‘Time out of Mind’ celebrates the spirit of place and its enduring power to heal.
Chosen Child by Linda Huber
A disappearance. A sudden death. A betrayal of the worst kind.
Ella longs for a child of her own, but a gruesome find during an adoption process deepens the cracks in her marriage. Her husband Rick has a secret, but Ella doesn’t want to know…
Across town, Amanda is expecting her second child when her husband vanishes. The search begins, but nothing prepares Amanda for the shocking conclusion to the police investigation.
And in the middle of it all, a little girl is looking for a home of her own with a ‘forever’ mummy and daddy…
How well do you know your own family? And who can you trust?
Do Not Feed The Bear by Rachel Elliot
A life-affirming novel about broken but loving families, people making mistakes but doing their best, grief and getting stuck – for readers of ELEANOR OLIPHANT, THE TROUBLE WITH GOATS AND SHEEP and WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT
On her forty-seventh birthday, Sydney Smith stands on a rooftop and prepares to jump…
Sydney is a cartoonist and freerunner. Feet constantly twitching, always teetering on the edge of life, she’s never come to terms with the event that ripped her family apart when she was ten years old. And so, on a birthday that she doesn’t want to celebrate, she returns alone to St Ives to face up to her guilt and grief. It’s a trip that turns out to be life-changing – and not only for herself.
DO NOT FEED THE BEAR is a book about lives not yet lived, about the kindness of others and about how, when our worlds stop, we find a way to keep on moving.
The Bay by L J Ross
In the picturesque seaside town of St Ives, Detective Sergeant Sophie Keane is a pillar of the community. Between the occasional collar and lazy weekends spent on the beach, it seems a perfect life. But for Sophie, the golden sands and crystal waters hide a dark secret, one that’s lain buried for twenty years.
When a body turns up on the opening night of a glittering new art gallery on the seafront, the town is left shaken―especially Sophie, who recognises the killer’s style but knows that what she fears just couldn’t be possible…
With a killer on the loose, everyone’s a suspect―especially newcomer Gabriel Rowe, who seems to have settled in far too quickly for her liking. For Sophie, he’s guilty until proven innocent…
Suspense is peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced mystery, set amidst the spectacular Cornish landscape.
The Ferryman’s Daughter by Juliet Greenwood
Can Hester help her family escape desperate poverty and fulfil her dreams?
1908: Hester always loved her mother best, her father had always been a hard man to like, spending more time (and money) in the local than with his family. After her mother’s sudden death, followed by an injury forcing her father to give up his job as the ferryman, Hester is placed in the position of care-giver for her young brother and sister.
As the years pass Hester must row the ferry night and day to keep them all from starvation, while her hopes of working in a kitchen and one day becoming a cook, slip further and further away.
But just how far is Hester willing to go to make her dream a reality? And as the threat of war comes ever closer to the Cornish coast, will it bring opportunities or despair for Hester and her family?
We hope you enjoy our selection of books set in beautiful St Ives!
Tony for the TripFiction team
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