Rina Martin Books in Order

Rina Martin brings a different flavour to Jane Adams's crime fiction. These books are more openly rooted in a small-town, seaside setting, and they often feel warmer on the surface than the Mike Croft or Naomi Blake novels. That does not mean they are lightweight. It just means the tone starts from a friendlier place before the murders complicate everything.

Rina is a retired actress who once played a television sleuth. By the time Murder on Sea / A Reason to Kill opens, she is living in Frantham and running Peverill Lodge. She has seen enough of performance and public life to understand how people present themselves, and that makes her a natural amateur investigator. She is observant, curious, sociable when she wants to be, and not especially easy to fool.

The other crucial figure is DI Sebastian McGregor, usually called Mac. He arrives in Frantham bruised by an earlier case and looking for some kind of quieter future. That peace does not last long. Across the series, Mac handles the official side of investigations while Rina keeps noticing things that sit outside procedure, odd behaviour, household tension, local loyalties, the detail that does not fit the story people are trying to tell.

Frantham matters almost as much as the detectives do.

This is the sort of town where guests, neighbours, shopkeepers and old friends are always brushing past one another. That gives the books a sociable texture, but it also means murder travels quickly through a close network of people who all have opinions, histories and some stake in what comes out. Peverill Lodge itself helps create that feeling. It gives Rina a base, a stream of visitors, and a sense that domestic life is always only a room or two away from the investigation.

The series moves through beaches, cliffs, boats, pubs, country houses, farms and hotels, and the later revival of the books keeps expanding that local world. Some titles, like Murder at the Pub / Cause of Death and Forgotten Voices / Murder on the Farm, show how easily a seemingly ordinary death can open into something much rawer. Others lean into classic setup pleasures, as with weddings, hotels and isolated houses, while still holding on to the character relationships that keep the series grounded.

Rina herself is a big part of the appeal. She is older, experienced and quite funny in a dry way, but Adams never turns her into a cute eccentric. She has depth, friendships, worry, and a real sense of what violence does to a place that otherwise looks safe.

If you want a Jane Adams series with a coastal setting, a strong amateur-professional partnership and a slightly cozier wrapper around some properly knotty murders, this is the one to try. Start with Murder on Sea / A Reason to Kill and let Frantham pull you in.