Murder, Menageries
(2025)and Other Respectable Afternoon Horrors
(A book in the Regency: Corpses & Courtship Club series)
A novel by Marisa Paxon
I am the narrator of this book, which means I already carried every locked gate, every polite lie, and one remarkably well dressed corpse without so much as a ‘thank you.’ Now they have decided I should also lure you in from the product page, as if my duties include recruitment.
Welcome to a cozy Regency murder in the Tower of London menagerie, where the animals are caged, the humans are not, and someone has the audacity to leave a dead viscount on the stones like an item misplaced in a hallway. Imogen Aldridge only meant to unlock the lion house at dawn, check the beasts, and get on with her respectable little life of ink stained fingers and unpaid competence. Instead, the spare key is already in the lock, the lion is furious, and Viscount Redcombe is lying there with his cravat neat and his throat marked by a single, ugly band of violence. No gore, no theatrics, just the kind of tidiness that screams premeditation.
Naturally, everyone would like the solution to be ‘the lion did it,’ because that requires no thinking and very little paperwork. Unfortunately for them, the Crown sends Felix Seward, an inspector with the calm stare of a man who has seen what happens when barrels of powder go missing and people pretend not to notice. He asks inconvenient questions about keys, windows, guard rosters, ash in the cracks of old stone, and who has been using the Tower’s storerooms as a private bank. Imogen, having eyes and a brain and nowhere else to put either, is dragged straight into the mess, and if she fails she does not merely lose a post, she loses her home inside the walls and returns to a country rectory with disgrace, no references, and a story nobody will believe.
And yes, because life is cruel and literature is worse, the inspector is also vexingly attractive in that restrained, competent way that makes sensible women want to commit administrative errors. The romance is slow burn and properly behaved in public, with kisses earned rather than flung about, and it ends happily, which is more than can be said for the viscount. This is also a complete, stand-alone case in the Regency: Corpses and Courtship Club, so you may start here without doing homework, you can always develop a habit later.
Perfect for readers who want a clue rich, fair play whodunit with a satisfying logical reveal, dry banter under pressure, a deliciously odd setting (lions included, arrogance not optional), and a closed door slow burn romance with an HEA.
Go on then, click Look Inside and step through the door, I will be in there, doing all the heavy lifting again.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Welcome to a cozy Regency murder in the Tower of London menagerie, where the animals are caged, the humans are not, and someone has the audacity to leave a dead viscount on the stones like an item misplaced in a hallway. Imogen Aldridge only meant to unlock the lion house at dawn, check the beasts, and get on with her respectable little life of ink stained fingers and unpaid competence. Instead, the spare key is already in the lock, the lion is furious, and Viscount Redcombe is lying there with his cravat neat and his throat marked by a single, ugly band of violence. No gore, no theatrics, just the kind of tidiness that screams premeditation.
Naturally, everyone would like the solution to be ‘the lion did it,’ because that requires no thinking and very little paperwork. Unfortunately for them, the Crown sends Felix Seward, an inspector with the calm stare of a man who has seen what happens when barrels of powder go missing and people pretend not to notice. He asks inconvenient questions about keys, windows, guard rosters, ash in the cracks of old stone, and who has been using the Tower’s storerooms as a private bank. Imogen, having eyes and a brain and nowhere else to put either, is dragged straight into the mess, and if she fails she does not merely lose a post, she loses her home inside the walls and returns to a country rectory with disgrace, no references, and a story nobody will believe.
And yes, because life is cruel and literature is worse, the inspector is also vexingly attractive in that restrained, competent way that makes sensible women want to commit administrative errors. The romance is slow burn and properly behaved in public, with kisses earned rather than flung about, and it ends happily, which is more than can be said for the viscount. This is also a complete, stand-alone case in the Regency: Corpses and Courtship Club, so you may start here without doing homework, you can always develop a habit later.
Perfect for readers who want a clue rich, fair play whodunit with a satisfying logical reveal, dry banter under pressure, a deliciously odd setting (lions included, arrogance not optional), and a closed door slow burn romance with an HEA.
Go on then, click Look Inside and step through the door, I will be in there, doing all the heavy lifting again.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Marisa Paxon's Murder, Menageries