Murder, the Prince Regent, and Brighton Bathwater

A Cozy Regency Mystery of Love and Murder

Brighton is very good at pretending its scandals are sea breezes. The sea, unfortunately, has just washed up a columnist who knows everyone’s secrets and will no longer be improving anyone’s breakfast.

Miss Honoria Finch, impoverished gentlewoman and unwilling expert in duchess management, only meant to hold a shawl and mind her own thoughts. Now a drowned gossip writer lies at her feet with her private letter clenched in his hand and the Prince Regent’s private secretary is asking very quiet, very dangerous questions. If Honoria cannot help Arthur Deverell untangle forged invitations, listening wallpaper, and a satchel of Brighton’s worst behaviour, she will lose her post, her reputation, and the small financial lifeline keeping her brother in honest boots.

Deverell needs someone the Pavilion guests will not notice; Honoria has spent her life being politely overlooked. Together they comb through card rooms, taprooms, and ballroom gossip for the one crooked detail that will turn an “accident” into a reckoning. Somewhere between blackmail, ankle commentary, and extremely opinionated décor, inconvenient feelings begin to organise themselves.

Perfect for readers who like cozy Regency seaside mysteries, sharp-tongued companions, duty-bound men in over their careful heads, and slow burn sparring that knows exactly when to look away. Expect a fair play mystery with clue rich investigation, closed door slow burn romance with a happy for now ending, and death on the page kept non gory, if not entirely well behaved.

Pack your salts, brace for Brighton water, and step onto the shingle before the wallpaper starts listening without you.