Murder at the Seaside and the Dowager's Cat Codicil
(2026)(A book in the Regency: Ghostly Grievances Society series)
A novel by Marisa Paxon
I’m the narrator of this book, yes, that long-suffering presence who lugged every seaside squall, every legal clause, and every outrageous eyebrow raise across the finish line, and now ‘they’ have decided I should also sell it. Marvellous. I do adore unpaid overtime.
Welcome to Brinscombe Bay, Dorset, where the sea has opinions, society has teeth, and Miss Marianne Thorneby, Temple-trained legal copyist and professional spotter of tampered paperwork, is sent to take dictation from the Dowager Countess of Brinsley, a woman who treats punctuation like a weapon and adores exactly one creature, her cat Cleopatra.
Naturally, the dowager insists on signing her precious cat codicil at dawn, in a bathing machine, because privacy must be engineered on wheels. Naturally, she dies before she can finish her signature. And naturally, she does not have the decency to stay dead, not when there’s an inheritance to thwart, a cat to protect, and a murderer to inconvenience. So yes, Marianne gets a ghost. A bossy one. Lucky her.
Now add Rowan Arden, Preventive Water Guard officer, maddeningly competent, irritatingly observant, and far too calm about a titled corpse in a wooden box. Together they follow the trail that polite people pretend they cannot see: footprints in damp sand, ink that smells wrong, servants with secrets, a cousin with entitlement, and a seaside town that could gossip a person into an early grave without spilling a drop of blood. Marianne’s problem is simple, really: solve the murder, keep Cleopatra out of grasping hands, and avoid being publicly declared either immoral or insane. Preferably all three before luncheon.
Perfect for readers who like cozy Regency murders with sharp wit, a nuisance ghost with standards, a clue-stacked investigation, prickly competence-to-romance, and a cat who absolutely should have legal counsel, plus reluctant kisses and scandal managed with paperwork.
Expect non-gory murder, satisfying logical answers, and a closed-door slow-burn romance with an HEA; this is a complete, stand-alone case in the Regency: Ghostly Grievances Society world. Now go on, click Look Inside, and let me drag you to the seaside, you’ll only thank me later.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Welcome to Brinscombe Bay, Dorset, where the sea has opinions, society has teeth, and Miss Marianne Thorneby, Temple-trained legal copyist and professional spotter of tampered paperwork, is sent to take dictation from the Dowager Countess of Brinsley, a woman who treats punctuation like a weapon and adores exactly one creature, her cat Cleopatra.
Naturally, the dowager insists on signing her precious cat codicil at dawn, in a bathing machine, because privacy must be engineered on wheels. Naturally, she dies before she can finish her signature. And naturally, she does not have the decency to stay dead, not when there’s an inheritance to thwart, a cat to protect, and a murderer to inconvenience. So yes, Marianne gets a ghost. A bossy one. Lucky her.
Now add Rowan Arden, Preventive Water Guard officer, maddeningly competent, irritatingly observant, and far too calm about a titled corpse in a wooden box. Together they follow the trail that polite people pretend they cannot see: footprints in damp sand, ink that smells wrong, servants with secrets, a cousin with entitlement, and a seaside town that could gossip a person into an early grave without spilling a drop of blood. Marianne’s problem is simple, really: solve the murder, keep Cleopatra out of grasping hands, and avoid being publicly declared either immoral or insane. Preferably all three before luncheon.
Perfect for readers who like cozy Regency murders with sharp wit, a nuisance ghost with standards, a clue-stacked investigation, prickly competence-to-romance, and a cat who absolutely should have legal counsel, plus reluctant kisses and scandal managed with paperwork.
Expect non-gory murder, satisfying logical answers, and a closed-door slow-burn romance with an HEA; this is a complete, stand-alone case in the Regency: Ghostly Grievances Society world. Now go on, click Look Inside, and let me drag you to the seaside, you’ll only thank me later.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Marisa Paxon's Murder at the Seaside and the Dowager's Cat Codicil