The Body That Floats – Julia & Frankie Are Back Solving Another Cozy Mystery!

Last year, I had the pleasure of reading More Than Murder, the debut cozy novel from author Jayne Chard. I absolutely loved it and was delighted to learn that a second installment in the series was being published.

Fast forward, and we have The Body That Floats, the next tale of sleuthing from our two delightful sisters, Julia and Frankie.

While I recommend reading both books, I also know that time is precious, so if you want to jump straight in with this book, let me give you a quick catch-up.

Julia and Frankie are half-sisters who, a few years earlier, became somewhat estranged due to some poor choices on Frankie’s end.

Then their aunt passed away and left her house, Rose Cottage in the quaint village of Little Clarsden, to both sisters.

The will stipulated that both sisters must live together in the house for one year. If either sister left, she automatically forfeited her share of the cottage, and the other sister would become the sole owner.

Frankie returned from her travels to live in the home, and gradually the sisters figured out how to live with each other. They bonded in the first book when solving a crime on a Murder Mystery weekend, and we join them now, a few months later.

The Ladies Are Off To Cornwall

Hopefully, you’re all caught up because this time around, the sisters have been invited to Cornwall by an old friend, Linda, who used to live in the village.

Julia and Frankie intend to make the most of their holidays, take in some sea air, do some cliff walking, and generally relax for a few days.

They meet the locals, help Julia out with the village fair, eat a lot of fabulous Cornish ice-cream, and then, quite by accident, find a body floating in the sea.

Turns out, it’s a local man who recently moved to the area, and quite quickly, the local police believe it was an accident.

However, Frankie and Julia are not convinced and suspect that there is far more to the death than first appears. Despite sharing their concerns with the local Detective, they are largely ignored, and so off they go to conduct their own investigation.

So was it a murder? Was it an accident? And why does it seem like everybody in Portscatho is hiding something?

Sisterly Love

Aside from the fact that The Body That Floats is an incredibly easy read in terms of pacing, style of writing, and tone, it also presents a wonderful duo in terms of sisters Julia and Frankie.

It’s a tricky relationship to quantify insofar as both love each other dearly, but they are so different in terms of personality that they also drive each other crazy.

In book one, they constantly, albeit unwittingly, annoyed the heck out of each other. However, since then, they have both come to recognize and respect those differences, with a quiet understanding that tempers their clashes.

What once sparked irritation now often gives way to reluctant amusement, and though they still bicker from time to time, it’s underpinned by a genuine fondness and a growing sense that, despite everything, they are firmly on each other’s side.

Julia has come out of her shell more and is trying to be more adventurous, a quality she always admired in Frankie. And Frankie is trying to be less impulsive and actually think things through more, and so what we end up with is two women who start to work really well together.

Solving The Mystery

That means we get a really clever but well-thought-out method for solving the mystery. Conversations with locals, asking smart questions, old-fashioned spying, putting clues together – you get the idea.

And, it is with great relief that I say there are no stupid decisions made, no eye-roll-inducing moments of madness, and no dumbing down of the leading ladies to serve the wider narrative, all of which are tropes we’ve all had to suffer through in other cozy mysteries.

There was something genuinely lovely about the way this book wrapped up, with a subtle twist and nod to Poirot. It has an all’s well that ends well vibe that made me smile as I put the book down.

I think Julia and Frankie are going to be okay as they navigate their relationship, but they certainly have a couple of big conversations in their future, so maybe a third book from Jayne Chard could help things along…