Murder at the Midnight Picture Palace
(2026)(A book in the Interwar: Martinis & Motives Circle series)
A novel by Marisa Paxon
I’m the narrator of this book, the long suffering presence who carried every flicker of scandal, every hiss of electricity, and every cup of tea without so much as a thank you, and now they want me to sell it as well. Marvellous. Shall we proceed before someone bolts the door from the inside again?
Here’s what you’re walking into: Iris Whittingale runs the Larkspur Electric Cinema, a seaside ‘picture palace’ held together by polish, prayer, and her sheer refusal to let it die. On a packed charity night, the town’s loudest benefactor, Alderman Frobisher, waddles upstairs to admire the machinery he claims as a personality trait, and promptly turns up dead in the projection booth. Non gory, if you’re the sort who needs that reassurance, just deeply inconvenient.
Unfortunately for Iris, the booth is locked, the wiring is behaving like it has opinions, and the film itself briefly swaps in an unapproved, unmistakably American snippet that has no business sullying British moral fibre. Enter Hugh Denholm of the British Board of Film Censors, a man who can close a cinema with a single tidy sentence and looks like he alphabetises his grudges. He calls it ‘thoroughness.’ I call it a new problem with good cheekbones.
Now Iris has to untangle who meddled with the reels, who helped the cables along, and why half the audience suddenly needed the lavatory at the most convenient moments. If she fails, she doesn’t just lose the case, she loses the Larkspur, her staff, her livelihood, and her last shred of peace, leaving her with nothing but songs, tea, and public humiliation on repeat.
Perfect for readers who like cozy historical mysteries with sharp banter, a deliciously specific setting, clue rich sleuthing with a satisfying, logical reveal, and a closed door, slow burn romance with an HEA, all wrapped in one complete, stand alone case (a perfectly safe entry point into the ‘Interwar: Martinis & Motives Circle’ world).
Now, go on, click Look Inside and let me put the lights down. You’ll want a front row seat for this.
Genre: Mystery
Here’s what you’re walking into: Iris Whittingale runs the Larkspur Electric Cinema, a seaside ‘picture palace’ held together by polish, prayer, and her sheer refusal to let it die. On a packed charity night, the town’s loudest benefactor, Alderman Frobisher, waddles upstairs to admire the machinery he claims as a personality trait, and promptly turns up dead in the projection booth. Non gory, if you’re the sort who needs that reassurance, just deeply inconvenient.
Unfortunately for Iris, the booth is locked, the wiring is behaving like it has opinions, and the film itself briefly swaps in an unapproved, unmistakably American snippet that has no business sullying British moral fibre. Enter Hugh Denholm of the British Board of Film Censors, a man who can close a cinema with a single tidy sentence and looks like he alphabetises his grudges. He calls it ‘thoroughness.’ I call it a new problem with good cheekbones.
Now Iris has to untangle who meddled with the reels, who helped the cables along, and why half the audience suddenly needed the lavatory at the most convenient moments. If she fails, she doesn’t just lose the case, she loses the Larkspur, her staff, her livelihood, and her last shred of peace, leaving her with nothing but songs, tea, and public humiliation on repeat.
Perfect for readers who like cozy historical mysteries with sharp banter, a deliciously specific setting, clue rich sleuthing with a satisfying, logical reveal, and a closed door, slow burn romance with an HEA, all wrapped in one complete, stand alone case (a perfectly safe entry point into the ‘Interwar: Martinis & Motives Circle’ world).
Now, go on, click Look Inside and let me put the lights down. You’ll want a front row seat for this.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Marisa Paxon's Murder at the Midnight Picture Palace