Murder, Suffragettes
(2025)and the Risk of Unflattering Photographs
(A book in the Edwardian: Murder and Manners Society series)
A novel by Marisa Paxon
One seaside assignment. One ruined photograph. One very inconvenient corpse.
Edith Fairleigh is supposed to write about wholesome seaside amusements; instead she steps off the train at Westcliff to find suffragettes rehearsing on a failing pier, electric lights that explode if stared at too sternly, and a patroness who cares more about her profile than public safety. The Majestic Pier Pavilion promises a tasteful charity tableaux and a photographic record of civic virtue; it delivers one dead body and several very compromising glass plates.
When a prominent supporter of the pier’s nearly modern entertainments dies in front of the camera, polite society prefers the word accident. The Westcliff Women’s Suffrage Society mutters about martyrdom, the local Methodists mutter about judgment, and Edith mutters that none of them are looking closely enough at the photographs. Why were certain plates quietly set aside, and who decided which faces were fit for destruction and which for the front page?
To protect his struggling pier, Mr Crispin Marwood would very much like Edith to behave, drink her tea, and file a harmless feature on electric light. Instead he finds himself assisting with improvised autopsies, disastrous church socials, and a slow burning partnership that is only slightly less alarming than the village gossip. As Edith and Crispin follow a trail of singed wires, shattered glass, and carefully edited images, they must decide how much truth Westcliff can bear before the whole pier goes under.
Perfect for fans of witty historical whodunits who enjoy murder, manners, and a slow burn romance with all the sparks in the dialogue and none of the heat below stairs, this page turning cozy mystery is ideal for binge reading in Kindle Unlimited.
Genre: Mystery
Edith Fairleigh is supposed to write about wholesome seaside amusements; instead she steps off the train at Westcliff to find suffragettes rehearsing on a failing pier, electric lights that explode if stared at too sternly, and a patroness who cares more about her profile than public safety. The Majestic Pier Pavilion promises a tasteful charity tableaux and a photographic record of civic virtue; it delivers one dead body and several very compromising glass plates.
When a prominent supporter of the pier’s nearly modern entertainments dies in front of the camera, polite society prefers the word accident. The Westcliff Women’s Suffrage Society mutters about martyrdom, the local Methodists mutter about judgment, and Edith mutters that none of them are looking closely enough at the photographs. Why were certain plates quietly set aside, and who decided which faces were fit for destruction and which for the front page?
To protect his struggling pier, Mr Crispin Marwood would very much like Edith to behave, drink her tea, and file a harmless feature on electric light. Instead he finds himself assisting with improvised autopsies, disastrous church socials, and a slow burning partnership that is only slightly less alarming than the village gossip. As Edith and Crispin follow a trail of singed wires, shattered glass, and carefully edited images, they must decide how much truth Westcliff can bear before the whole pier goes under.
Perfect for fans of witty historical whodunits who enjoy murder, manners, and a slow burn romance with all the sparks in the dialogue and none of the heat below stairs, this page turning cozy mystery is ideal for binge reading in Kindle Unlimited.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Marisa Paxon's Murder, Suffragettes