Frances Holcombe
Frances Holcombe — writing by the Cornish coast

Frances Holcombe

Stories of place, character & quiet reckoning

Frances Holcombe writes character-driven fiction.

Her novels celebrate love and friendship, resilience and humour and the quiet moments that shape ordinary lives.

Her books include two distinct series. The Morning Men Mystery series of novels follow an unlikely group of older friends whose morning coffee has an uncanny habit of leading them into murder, mystery and more than a little mischief. Another Porthaven Story series of novellas follow ex-Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Karen Locke and her Cornish DS as they wander cobbled lanes, seaside pubs and familiar faces hiding human stories waiting to be told.

So make yourself comfortable, pour a cup of tea — or perhaps a glass of wine — and stay a while.

There's always another story waiting.

A Week in October — a free Porthaven story by Frances Holcombe
Begin in Porthaven
Free

A Week in October

A standalone story set in Porthaven

Carol Rowe comes home to clear her late mother's house, and finds she isn't the only one in Porthaven quietly holding something together. Sign up below and the story is yours to read today — completely free, by email, no catches.

Or join the Readers Club here → No spam. Roughly one letter a month. Unsubscribe whenever you like.
From Porthaven

Available Now

Three Porthaven novellas and the first two Morning Men Mysteries — each a complete story, each ready to read today.

The Bakery on Fore Street cover
Porthaven Novella

The Bakery on Fore Street

Another Porthaven Story by Frances Holcombe

Everyone in Porthaven knew Wendy Trevorrow. She ran the front of the bakery on Fore Street, and knew what you wanted before you'd finished asking for it. Then, one October, she wasn't there — and Detective Inspector Karen Locke, new to Cornwall and still finding her feet, discovers a whole town has already decided what happened.

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The Badger's Lament cover
Porthaven Novella

The Badger's Lament

Another Porthaven Story by Frances Holcombe

Something goes missing from the back room of the Black Dog on a Saturday night — not the cash box, not the guitar leaning beside it, but a notebook, and one unfinished song written for a woman lost without ever learning her surname.

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A Tough Day at the Office cover
Porthaven Novella

A Tough Day at the Office

Another Porthaven Story by Frances Holcombe

Betty Bellthorpe has kept the books for half of Chandler's Lane for nineteen years — so when three client files come back very slightly, precisely wrong, she knows exactly what it means before she even rings anyone.

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Death at Low Tide cover
Morning Men Mystery

Death at Low Tide

A Morning Men Mystery by Frances Holcombe

Every morning, rain or shine, Pete walks his dog along the Porthaven harbour wall before the town properly wakes. Then Monty finds a body on the tideline, and the morning stops being steady at all.

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The Beach at Trevone cover
Morning Men Mystery

The Beach at Trevone

A Morning Men Mystery by Frances Holcombe

A woman goes into the sea at Trevone one morning and doesn't come out again. The coastguard calls it a tragedy. Nobody in Porthaven quite believes that's all it was.

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Published by Salt & Anchor Press, exclusively in Kindle and paperback through Amazon. Audiobook editions to follow.

A Week in October cover
Also set in Porthaven
Free

A Week in October

A standalone Porthaven story

Sign up to receive the story free, along with occasional letters from Porthaven.

Or join the Readers Club here → No spam. Roughly one letter a month. Unsubscribe whenever you like.
The Town

Porthaven

Porthaven is a small working harbour town on the north coast of Cornwall, three miles east of Padstow. It has two pubs, one bakery, a bookshop that has been there since before anyone can remember, and a café on the harbour where three retired men sit at the window table every morning. The boats go out at four and come back at noon. The town watches.

The Morning Men Mysteries are set here. So is The Bakery on Fore Street.

More about Porthaven →