Murder, Chess, and a Very Improper Endgame
(2026)(A book in the Regency: Ghostly Grievances Society series)
A novel by Marisa Paxon
I’m the narrator of this book, the long-suffering presence who hauled everyone through every smirk, scandal, and suspicious scrape of wood, and now they have decided I should also sell it. Naturally. Apparently my reward for competence is marketing.
Sybil Markham is an assistant at a fashionable Bond Street circulating library, which by day is all genteel browsing and polite coughs, and by night becomes a chess room by sheer male insistence. I watched her stay late for half a crown and an early grave, while Mr. Lionel Pritchard, self-appointed chairman and professional nuisance in an immaculate cravat, corrected grown men like it was a moral duty. Then the instructional bookcase fell on him. Hard. Final. Offensively unpoetic.
The trouble is, bookcases don’t generally attack people without encouragement. There’s pale wax rubbed where it shouldn’t be, a scuffed white queen doing manual labour, a ledger full of ‘harmless’ wagers, and a room of witnesses who all insist they were nowhere near anything, ever. Worse, Mr. Pritchard returns as a fussy ghost, hovering at Sybil’s shoulder and demanding justice, accuracy, and an immediate correction to his endgame, in that order.
Enter Mr. Ambrose Cresswell, barrister of the Inner Temple, calm as a locked drawer and twice as difficult to pry open. He’s irritatingly observant, annoyingly decent, and exactly the sort of man who can walk into a disaster and make the law sound like a polite threat. Together, they have to untangle who set the trap, who benefits from a ‘simple accident,’ and how Sybil can expose the truth without losing her position, her reputation, or her continued access to sleep. Also, yes, there’s flirtation, because apparently even murder scenes aren’t safe from chemistry.
Perfect for readers who like witty Regency sleuthing, a clue-strewn puzzle with sharp banter, a ghost with opinions, and a slow-burn partnership where competence is the foreplay (don’t worry, it stays properly closed-door).
Expect a cozy, non-gory, clue-rich mystery with a satisfying, logical reveal, plus a closed-door slow-burn romance with an HEA. It’s a complete, standalone case in the Regency: Ghostly Grievances Society world, so you can start here without doing homework. Now, do us both a favour and click Look Inside, I’ve already survived the bookcase.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Sybil Markham is an assistant at a fashionable Bond Street circulating library, which by day is all genteel browsing and polite coughs, and by night becomes a chess room by sheer male insistence. I watched her stay late for half a crown and an early grave, while Mr. Lionel Pritchard, self-appointed chairman and professional nuisance in an immaculate cravat, corrected grown men like it was a moral duty. Then the instructional bookcase fell on him. Hard. Final. Offensively unpoetic.
The trouble is, bookcases don’t generally attack people without encouragement. There’s pale wax rubbed where it shouldn’t be, a scuffed white queen doing manual labour, a ledger full of ‘harmless’ wagers, and a room of witnesses who all insist they were nowhere near anything, ever. Worse, Mr. Pritchard returns as a fussy ghost, hovering at Sybil’s shoulder and demanding justice, accuracy, and an immediate correction to his endgame, in that order.
Enter Mr. Ambrose Cresswell, barrister of the Inner Temple, calm as a locked drawer and twice as difficult to pry open. He’s irritatingly observant, annoyingly decent, and exactly the sort of man who can walk into a disaster and make the law sound like a polite threat. Together, they have to untangle who set the trap, who benefits from a ‘simple accident,’ and how Sybil can expose the truth without losing her position, her reputation, or her continued access to sleep. Also, yes, there’s flirtation, because apparently even murder scenes aren’t safe from chemistry.
Perfect for readers who like witty Regency sleuthing, a clue-strewn puzzle with sharp banter, a ghost with opinions, and a slow-burn partnership where competence is the foreplay (don’t worry, it stays properly closed-door).
Expect a cozy, non-gory, clue-rich mystery with a satisfying, logical reveal, plus a closed-door slow-burn romance with an HEA. It’s a complete, standalone case in the Regency: Ghostly Grievances Society world, so you can start here without doing homework. Now, do us both a favour and click Look Inside, I’ve already survived the bookcase.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Marisa Paxon's Murder, Chess, and a Very Improper Endgame