The Haunting of Hero's Bay

The chilling new mystery from the author of The Lost Storyteller

By: Amanda Block

Narrated by: George Weightman, Valerie Antwi

The sea doesn't forget.
It knows all of this has happened before.
And will happen again...

1840
As a vast ship loses its way in the night-time mist, shattering against the cliffs of Crescombe, North Devon, a daring young artist dives into the murky sea. But it's not for heroism he is risking all: something - or someone - is drawing him into those dark, perilous waters . . .

By dawn, only his legacy will survive.

Now
When Finley arrives in Crescombe for the summer, he suspects he's not alone in his attic bedroom. Before long, he is uncovering secrets the remote seaside town has kept for almost two centuries: about ghosts and curses, about a ruthless old smuggling family, and about the young women whose bodies have washed up along the town's rocky shoreline, just below his porthole window.

Yet the more Finley learns, the further he's bonded to those who have gone before him - and the closer he comes to meeting the same watery end . . .

But this is not just a story about death. It's about love. It's about fate. And how, ultimately, the past can pull you under . . .

Praise for The Lost Storyteller
'A powerful novel about . . . how stories connect us all' Jenny Colgan
'A warm, immersive read that weaves folklore through a story of self-discovery' Kate Sawyer
'A moving story and vivid characters. But it also has that special indefinable something. One of my books of the year' Tracy Rees©2025 Amanda Block

Critic reviews

Amanda is a powerful storyteller - I loved it

Pacy, cleverly woven and a fabulous adventure . . . mystery, love, art, smuggling, ghosts and more

A sweeping, ghostly tale of doomed love and a celebrated painting's link with a string of mysterious deaths in a secretive seaside town

A haunting tale of the wrongs of the past being re-lived in the present . . . Smugglers and ghosts, but also compassion and love

A rollicking read, shades of light and dark on the Devon coast. The pages just keep on turning

The kindly spirit of Daphne du Maurier is definitely watching over this terrific West Country novel: there are smugglers and shipwrecks, secrets and legends, clues hidden in artworks - and in hidey holes. Plus a quirky village full of irresistible characters, not one but two halting and tremulous love stories, and a protagonist whose plight and pluck are equally compelling. The Haunting of Hero's Bay was pretty much the perfect read. I loved it

A beautifully atmospheric ghost story with a heartfelt centre. Romance-tinged but full of mystery, I loved it. Told with the same emotional human touch that made Amanda's debut novel so special