So when she’s sent from the children’s home to live with her uncle in Cornwall, she’s thrilled to be caught up in a real-life mystery.

Travelling to St Ives Laura finds an acceptance, freedom and trust she has never known before, but the idyllic setting of this Cornish town belies the struggles to be accepted socially and the loneliness Laura feels as her uncle wanders the coastline at all hours. Only one pirate survived the treacherous journey however he is nowhere to be found and is thought to have gone crazy! Laura Marlin didn’t know her parents but when her uncle Calvin Redfern finds out that he has a niece he turns up at the orphanage wanting to look after her and moves her in with him to St Ive’s, Cornwall.

Winner of the 2011 Blue Peter Book of the Year Award, DEAD MAN’S COVE is t he first book in a gripping adventure series about eleven-year-old ace detective, Laura Marlin, from award-winning author Lauren St John.

What I want,” Laura declared, “is to have a life packed with excitement like some of the characters in my books. Something that I thought more deeply/differently about was how looks can be quite deceiving and of how Laura went pass her limits to go solve a mystery by herself and put herself in danger sometimes. But aside that I did love Laura and how smart she was, and that she had a dream, to become a detective. Lauren St John is the author of several books on sports and music, as well as the award-winning children's series THE WHITE GIRAFFE and the BLUE PETER BOOK AWARD-winning Laura Marlin series.Cornwall is a brilliant setting for all sorts of stories, with that dramatic coastline and windswept moor. I get that you have to stay realistic, but let a kid dream, so much is possible these days that dreams can be fulfilled. Beautifully written and well paced with excellent main characters and pitched perfectly for the audience - a roaring adventure with just the right amount of peril. The Asian family felt stereotyped, and of course, they’re the baddies of the book, because that’s foreigners for you, I guess?