The Viper's Whisper

A Witty Cozy Mystery of Power, Secrets, and a Reporter Who Won’t Quit

Beatrice “Bea” Hayes is the queen of clickbait. Celebrity pugs? Check. Outrageous reality stars? Double check. But when an encrypted email lands in her inbox, signed only Viper, Bea finds herself staring at the kind of story she thought she’d left behind—the dangerous kind.
The Vance family runs Aethelburg like royalty, with hospitals, charities, and gala events. Perfect. Untouchable. Or so it seems… until Bea starts digging. The more questions she asks, the more obstacles appear—including one Julian Thorne, a too-polished, too-charming fixer who makes intimidation look like an art form.
Armed with a cluttered apartment, a corkboard covered in red string, and a hacker friend who accepts pizza bribes, Bea is determined to uncover the truth. After all, she didn’t survive years of writing about celebrity pets just to back down now.
Because some secrets may be buried in paper and concrete, but Bea Hayes has never been good at letting things stay buried.