The Cold Shore

The opening of The Cold Shore begins with curiosity. Alan Wendle spots a battered sailboat stranded on the north Kent coast and goes to investigate. Once he is aboard, the rising tide makes even an ordinary step uncertain. Then he finds the body. That physical instability gives the discovery its force: danger is already under his feet before he understands what he has walked into.

Gavin Piper arrives with the strain of an earlier investigation still visible on him. He intended to assist his superior, but the case becomes his to lead. There is something compelling about that particular kind of pressure. People need decisions from him now; becoming comfortable with the responsibility will have to wait.

We chose this book for readers who enjoy the work of an investigation alongside the person doing it. The murder gives Gavin a problem to solve, while the unfamiliar coastal community and his inexperience complicate how he approaches it. The premise promises escalating danger when another witness is killed. Our interest is in what happens to a detective's judgment when the cost of hesitation keeps growing.

This is the opening book in Gavin Piper's series, a spin-off from Rachel Amphlett's Kay Hunter novels, and its October 5, 2026 publication makes it a timely point of discovery. Start here if you want to meet a detective at the beginning of his own series. Readers drawn further into Amphlett's crime fiction can also explore Scared to Death, the first Kay Hunter novel.