Murder, Menageries, and Other Respectable Afternoon Horrors

A Cozy Regency Mystery of Love and Murder

The lion sneezes, the viscount dies tidily, and Miss Imogen Aldridge would very much like everyone to stop implying these facts are related. As a clergyman’s daughter and uncredited assistant to the Tower of London menagerie, she is meant to sketch lions, not explain why a peer of the realm has been found neatly strangled in a locked inner corridor with her spare key obligingly in the door.

Unfortunately for Imogen, the Crown has sent Mr Felix Seward, a very calm, very inconvenient inspector who thinks in ledgers and does not believe in accidents. Between them lie: an enraged but innocent lion, a menagerie full of teeth, a garrison with too many secrets, pamphleteers who smell scandal, and a murder arranged with the precision of a public exhibition. If Imogen cannot help Seward untangle keys, barrels, ropes, and alibis, she stands to lose her position, her reputation, and the beasts she has fought to protect.

Perfect for readers who enjoy cozy locked room Regency mysteries, dry humour that bites harder than the animals, mutually competent slow burn partners, and scandal delivered without gore or on page sex. Expect a fair play mystery with clue rich sleuthing and a closed door slow burn romance with a true happily ever after, all wrapped in claws, courtship, and suspiciously respectable carnage. Open the first page and see whether the lion or the humans alarm you more.