Murder, Chocolate
(2026)and Other Unsuitable Refreshments at a Ladies' Academy
(A book in the Regency: Corpses & Courtship Club series)
A novel by Marisa Paxon
I am the narrator of this book, which means I have already hauled an entire viscount, several cups and saucers, and one academy’s worth of respectable hysteria into orderly sentences, and now they have decided I must sell it as well. Apparently my reward for keeping everyone from fainting into the evidence is marketing.
At Madame Rochfort’s Academy for Select Young Ladies, morning chocolate is meant to calm nerves and encourage obedient embroidery, not drop a patron dead onto the salon carpet. Viscount Halverton arrives to be admired, praised, and quietly mined for subscriptions; he lifts a cup, the cup becomes a different cup, and within minutes he is sprawled among the biscuits while the magistrate tries to call it Providence and everybody else tries to call it anything that will not ruin their daughters’ prospects.
Lydia Ashcroft, the academy’s instructress in deportment and conversation, does not have the luxury of melodrama. She has girls to shepherd, letters to intercept, and a scholarship account that will not survive one more scandal. I watched her catch the bitter thread beneath the chocolate, clock the chipped saucer that should never have reached a guest, and realise that ‘weak heart’ is simply the county’s favourite way to avoid paperwork. Luckily, the new fencing master, Captain Hugh Merrick, is the sort of man who notices doorways, lies, and the precise moment a room decides to turn dangerous, and he has the irritating habit of standing beside Lydia when sensible people would step back.
Perfect for readers who like Regency finishing school intrigue, clue-forward whodunits, sharp banter, competent allies who become something warmer, and romance that behaves impeccably in public, even while it misbehaves in private.
Expect a full, fair-play mystery with a satisfying, logical reveal, plus a closed-door, slow-burn romance with a happy-ever-after. It’s a complete, stand-alone case in the Regency: Corpses & Courtship Club, so you may enter here without fear of missing anyone else’s corpse. Now, go on, click Look Inside, and let me get you to the first suspicious sip.
Genre: Mystery
At Madame Rochfort’s Academy for Select Young Ladies, morning chocolate is meant to calm nerves and encourage obedient embroidery, not drop a patron dead onto the salon carpet. Viscount Halverton arrives to be admired, praised, and quietly mined for subscriptions; he lifts a cup, the cup becomes a different cup, and within minutes he is sprawled among the biscuits while the magistrate tries to call it Providence and everybody else tries to call it anything that will not ruin their daughters’ prospects.
Lydia Ashcroft, the academy’s instructress in deportment and conversation, does not have the luxury of melodrama. She has girls to shepherd, letters to intercept, and a scholarship account that will not survive one more scandal. I watched her catch the bitter thread beneath the chocolate, clock the chipped saucer that should never have reached a guest, and realise that ‘weak heart’ is simply the county’s favourite way to avoid paperwork. Luckily, the new fencing master, Captain Hugh Merrick, is the sort of man who notices doorways, lies, and the precise moment a room decides to turn dangerous, and he has the irritating habit of standing beside Lydia when sensible people would step back.
Perfect for readers who like Regency finishing school intrigue, clue-forward whodunits, sharp banter, competent allies who become something warmer, and romance that behaves impeccably in public, even while it misbehaves in private.
Expect a full, fair-play mystery with a satisfying, logical reveal, plus a closed-door, slow-burn romance with a happy-ever-after. It’s a complete, stand-alone case in the Regency: Corpses & Courtship Club, so you may enter here without fear of missing anyone else’s corpse. Now, go on, click Look Inside, and let me get you to the first suspicious sip.
Genre: Mystery
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