Murder for the Countess and Other Unauthorised Familiarities

A Cozy Regency Mystery of Love and Murder

A locked-room Regency murder is a dreadful inconvenience when you are a young widow trying to persuade three opinionated men that you can build a canal without fainting on the paperwork. Lady Seraphina Vale opens her map room to find an ink-stained corpse, a locked door, vanished deeds, and figures on her plans quietly altered.

With investors sniffing for weakness and a magistrate keen on simple stories, Seraphina turns to the only man in the house who understands locks, footsteps, and human misbehaviour: her butler, Tobias Rook. He controls the keys, he reads a room the way others read sermons, and he is unhelpfully attractive in a manner that remains strictly improper. If she fails, she loses the canal, her independence, and her right to be taken seriously in her own home.

Perfect for readers who love witty manor-house sleuthing, clue-forward puzzles, a competent heroine, and a slow-burn butler romance that simmers under immaculate linen. Expect a clue-rich fair play mystery, non-gory menace, and a closed door slow-burn romance with a happy-for-now ending. This stand alone opens the door to more Corpses & Courtship Club mischief, once you have survived the ink. Tap Look Inside and count the keys.