Frances Holcombe — illustrated portrait of a woman writing at a desk overlooking a Cornish harbour

Frances Holcombe

Mysteries of coast, community & character

A new mystery series set in the Cornish harbour town of Porthaven. Six books. Three retired widowers who meet for coffee each morning and find that retirement is not quite what they expected. The first, Death at Low Tide, is published by Salt & Anchor Press in July 2026.

Read the free novella

The Bakery on Fore Street

A standalone novella set in Porthaven. Sign up below and it's yours to read today.

The Morning Men Mystery Series

Six books set in Porthaven, a fictional harbour town on the north coast of Cornwall. The series follows three retired widowers — a builder, a journalist, and a businessman — who meet each morning at the Harbour Café and find themselves drawn into the things that happen around them. Each book is a complete mystery. Together, they tell a longer story about a town, a friendship, and a number of secrets that take a while to surface.

The Cliffs at Trevone cover

Book Two

The Cliffs at Trevone

Beth Tregaskis is found drowned. The coroner is satisfied. The Morning Men are not.

Death at the Plough cover

Book Three

Death at the Plough

A local woman. A dog walker is found dead on a country road — the kind of person who says good evening to strangers and means it.

Missing at the Windsor cover

Book Four

Missing at the Windsor

A woman from a London past is hiding in plain sight at a Cornish hotel. The Morning Men find her first. Now they have to keep her hidden.

Murder at the Estuary Estate cover

Book Five

Murder at the Estuary Estate

A man who has been in prison for five years didn't kill his brother. The Morning Men know who did. So, it turns out, does someone in the police.

The Lighthouse at Trevose cover

Book Six

The Lighthouse at Trevose

A storm. A body the sea returns. And a question Pete Pengelly has been carrying, without knowing it, for fifty years.

The Morning Men Mystery Series is published by Salt & Anchor Press, exclusively in Kindle and paperback through Amazon. Audiobook editions to follow.

A Porthaven Mystery — Read it free

The Bakery on Fore Street cover

A standalone novella set in Porthaven

The Bakery on Fore Street

A baker's wife goes missing on a Tuesday night. The town has its theories. The new detective from London has hers.

Detective Inspector Karen Locke has been in Cornwall for a month and in Porthaven for less. The transfer was meant to be a clean break. The Trevorrow case is her first real test of whether she can do the work without the place she came from.

A self-contained mystery and a quiet introduction to Porthaven — the harbour town where the Morning Men Mystery Series is set.

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

The Town

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.