DI Ben Kitto needs a second chance. After ten years working for the murder squad in London, a traumatic event has left him grief-stricken. He’s tried to resign from his job, but his boss has persuaded him to take three months to reconsider. Ben plans to work in his uncle Ray’s boatyard, on the tiny Scilly island of Bryher where he was born, hoping to mend his shattered nerves. His plans go awry when the body of sixteen year old Laura Trescothick is found on the beach at Hell Bay. Her attacker must still be on the island because no ferries have sailed during a two-day storm. Everyone on the island is under suspicion. Dark secrets are about to resurface. And the murderer could strike again at any time.

DI Ben Kitto has become the Scilly Islands’ Deputy Chief of Police. As the island’s lazy summer takes hold, he finds himself missing the excitement of the murder squad in London. But when a body is found anchored to the rocks of a nearby cave, it appears he’s spoken too soon. The island of Tresco, and the deep and murky waters that surround it, hold a dark secret. One that someone seems desperate to uncover . . .

INTRUDERS HERE ARE BOUND TO DIE As the sun sets on St Agnes on bonfire night, a man’s charred body is found on Burnt Island, surrounded by threats in the old Cornish language. Deputy Chief of Police Ben Kitto has no choice but to ban all travel between the islands, forcing the community of just eighty islanders to remain within reach, while he hunts for the killer. Ben quickly suspects the motive is to rid the island of newcomers who threaten tradition, and when a second fire results in the disappearance of another islander, he only has forty-eight hours before another life is lost . . .

THE ISLES OF SCILLY MYSTERIES #4 The fourth instalment in a gripping and atmospheric crime series set on a small island where there is no escape . . . ‘Gripping, clever and impossible to put down' ERIN KELLY AN ISLAND ON LOCKDOWN. A KILLER ON THE LOOSE . . . As the scorching summer sun covers the small Scilly island of St Mary’s, DI Ben Kitto and his team are training for the annual Swimathon. But their morning session comes to a climactic end when they discover a body hanging from Pulpit Rock. The victim has been dressed up in a bridal gown, and Ben quickly realises that a dark and sinister killer is at large on the island. To prevent the killer from escaping, Ben has no choice but to lock down St Mary’s, yet in doing so he is unwillingly trapping the killer’s next victim. When another woman is attacked, Ben gathers the island’s at-risk residents inside the local hotel for safety, but the killer is already watching and remains one step ahead . . . Everyone is a suspect. No one is safe. PRAISE FOR KATE RHODES: ‘Gripping, clever and impossible to put down. I’ve been a Kate Rhodes fan for years and in Ben Kitto she has created a detective who is just as complex and compelling as Kate’s elegant plotting and stunning prose. The claustrophobia and paranoia of the island are so brilliant evoked, I could almost feel the tide encroaching as time ran out to find the killer' ERIN KELLY ‘Absorbing and complex, Hell Bay kept me guessing until the final pages’ RACHEL ABBOTT 'A vividly realised protagonist whose complex and harrowing history rivals the central crime storyline' SOPHIE HANNAH 'Beautifully written and expertly plotted; this is a masterclass' GUARDIAN 'Expertly weaves a sense of place and character into a tense and intriguing story' METRO 'Rhodes does a superb job of balancing a portrayal of a tiny community oppressed by secrets with an uplifting evocation of setting' Jake Kerridge, SUNDAY EXPRESS ‘The whole book tingles with tension. I hope it does for the Scilly Isles what Ann Cleeves did for Shetland' MEL MCGRATH 'I love reading Kate's books in the way I love reading Sophie Hannah – a poet writing crime fiction is a great thing . . . It is at once a locked-room mystery, a story of the returning hero, and an examination of fear and abuse. It has the air of a twenty-first century Agatha Christie' JULIA CROUCH

When a young child goes missing on the Isles of Scilly, the community rushes to help DI Ben Kitto and his team with the search. Her twin brother, Ethan, was there when she was taken. But the shocking events of her disappearance have rendered him mute. Another person on the island knows exactly where the girl is. Someone with a deep-seated anger for Jade's family. To find the truth, Kitto must investigate the lives of the people he has known all of his life. People he trusts and respects. And he must do it quickly - because it isn't long until a body is found . . .

REVENGE DI Ben Kitto made many enemies in his time working as an undercover officer for the Met police, none more ruthless and calculating than gang leader Craig Travis. IS WORTH Travis has longed to make Kitto pay for his role in getting him convicted – and that day has finally arrived. Now, a dark and twisted killer is heading for the Scilly Isles, one who has waited a long time for revenge. WAITING FOR . . . With Kitto busy investigating the discovery of a body on the islands and distracted by the imminent arrival of his first child, his defences are down. He has so much to lose. And Travis will stop at nothing to take it all from him.