Lyme Regis – Dorset Crime Series Location Guide
Updated: Sep 18
Lyme Regis – at a glance
Key facts about Lyme Regis, a real location featured in the Dorset Crime series by Rachel McLean:
Name: Lyme Regis
Type: Coastal town (real place)
Real-world basis: Lyme Regis, a real harbour town on the Dorset–Devon border at the western end of the Jurassic Coast, famed for its fossils, the historic Cobb harbour wall and its association with the pioneering fossil hunter Mary Anning
Region: Dorset–Devon border / Jurassic Coast
Series: Dorset Crime and Jurassic Coast Mysteries by Rachel McLean
Featured in: The Fossil Beach Murders (Dorset Crime Book 6); also the home setting of the Jurassic Coast Mysteries
Genre: British police procedural / crime fiction
Where is Lyme Regis?
Lyme Regis is a real coastal town on the border of Dorset and Devon in southern England, at the western end of the Jurassic Coast. It is famous for its fossils and for the curving harbour wall known as the Cobb. It features in Rachel McLean's Dorset Crime series and is the home setting of her Jurassic Coast Mysteries.
Is Lyme Regis a real place?
Yes. Lyme Regis is a genuine and historic Dorset seaside town, long associated with fossil hunting and the pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning. Rachel McLean draws on its real streets, seafront and surrounding cliffs in her novels.
What is Lyme Regis in the Dorset Crime series?
In the Dorset Crime series, Lyme Regis is the setting of The Fossil Beach Murders, the sixth novel, where DCI Lesley Clarke's team investigates a case among the town's famous fossil cliffs.
Does Lyme Regis connect to Rachel McLean's other series?
Yes. Lyme Regis is also the home setting of Rachel McLean's Jurassic Coast Mysteries, a connected series set in the same stretch of the Dorset coast. Readers who enjoy the Lyme Regis scenes in Dorset Crime can follow the town into the Jurassic Coast Mysteries. The Jurassic Coast Mysteries is a cosy mystery series led by Detective Tina Abbott and her amateur-sleuth mother Annie Abbott, whose Lyme Regis Women’s Swimming Club keeps finding itself in the middle of murder investigations. It starts with The Swimming Club. If you are looking for cosy mysteries set in Lyme Regis, that series is set there.
Which Dorset Crime books feature Lyme Regis?
Lyme Regis is the central setting of The Fossil Beach Murders, Book 6 in the Dorset Crime series, and recurs elsewhere in Rachel McLean's Dorset-set fiction.
