Murder at the Lending Menagerie and Other Affections
(2026)(A book in the Regency: Ghostly Grievances Society series)
A novel by Marisa Paxon
I am the narrator of this book. I carried the whole affair on my back, kept the animals, the clues, the feelings, and the idiots in some sort of order, and now they have decided I must sell it as well. Fine. Since I have already watched every disastrous choice at close range, I may as well save you time.
Miss Georgiana Holling keeps a fashionable Regency lending menagerie from collapsing under the combined weight of orange-glazed buns, entitled subscribers, and people who mistake painted rails for civilisation. Then Basil Rooke, the menagerie’s gloriously pompous master of subscriptions and public civility, is found dead beneath the leopard hoist, and has the appalling bad manners to remain involved as a ghost. Sulking, censorious, and very much attached to being described correctly in print, he is not what one would call restful company.
So Georgiana must sort a death wrapped in ribbons, lies, machinery, and class vanity, while Christopher Selwyn, the menagerie’s grave, capable veterinary surgeon, keeps appearing with blue eyes, steady hands, and the deeply inconvenient habit of being useful. I watched them pick through false status, hidden danger, public humiliation, and one extremely narrow passage, all very edifying, while desire went and complicated everything in the way desire so often does when nobody has the leisure for it.
If she fails, the wrong fool hangs under the blame, the truth is buried under convenience and rank, and the whole menagerie, her father’s livelihood, and her own hard-won peace go straight to ruin. Which, as I repeatedly observed to no adequate effect, would be poor management.
Perfect for readers who like witty Regency mystery, a competent heroine, clue-rich detection, one magnificently offended ghost, and romance that simmers while everyone is trying not to die.
This is a cozy Regency mystery with ghosts, non-gory violence, a clue-rich investigation, and a satisfying logical reveal; paired with a very low heat romance and a proper HEA. It is also a complete standalone, so you may begin here without academic preparation or family charts, a mercy in these matters.
Go on, then. Click Look Inside or buy the thing properly. I have already done most of the work.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Miss Georgiana Holling keeps a fashionable Regency lending menagerie from collapsing under the combined weight of orange-glazed buns, entitled subscribers, and people who mistake painted rails for civilisation. Then Basil Rooke, the menagerie’s gloriously pompous master of subscriptions and public civility, is found dead beneath the leopard hoist, and has the appalling bad manners to remain involved as a ghost. Sulking, censorious, and very much attached to being described correctly in print, he is not what one would call restful company.
So Georgiana must sort a death wrapped in ribbons, lies, machinery, and class vanity, while Christopher Selwyn, the menagerie’s grave, capable veterinary surgeon, keeps appearing with blue eyes, steady hands, and the deeply inconvenient habit of being useful. I watched them pick through false status, hidden danger, public humiliation, and one extremely narrow passage, all very edifying, while desire went and complicated everything in the way desire so often does when nobody has the leisure for it.
If she fails, the wrong fool hangs under the blame, the truth is buried under convenience and rank, and the whole menagerie, her father’s livelihood, and her own hard-won peace go straight to ruin. Which, as I repeatedly observed to no adequate effect, would be poor management.
Perfect for readers who like witty Regency mystery, a competent heroine, clue-rich detection, one magnificently offended ghost, and romance that simmers while everyone is trying not to die.
This is a cozy Regency mystery with ghosts, non-gory violence, a clue-rich investigation, and a satisfying logical reveal; paired with a very low heat romance and a proper HEA. It is also a complete standalone, so you may begin here without academic preparation or family charts, a mercy in these matters.
Go on, then. Click Look Inside or buy the thing properly. I have already done most of the work.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Marisa Paxon's Murder at the Lending Menagerie and Other Affections