A Death, A Duke, and Miss Mifford

Regency Murder and Marriage, Book 1

By: Claudia Stone

Narrated by: Tim Fearon

After an unsuccessful season in London, Miss Mary Mifford has returned to the village of Plumpton, determined to be the most upstanding spinster the Cotswolds have ever seen.

Not even the arrival of the elusive Duke of Northcott can distract Mary from her plan; until the local rector is found bludgeoned to death and Mary is named as the prime suspect. When Northcott offers to assist Mary in finding the culprit, she does not think for a second that his motives have anything to do with marriage—but as the list of suspects grows longer, Mary and the duke grow closer and closer, and she begins to wonder if she is not such a determined spinster after all.

Henry William Lockheart, Sixth Duke of Northcott, has returned to his ducal seat, determined to attend to the estate he has neglected since his father's death. Nothing shall distract him from his plan, he thinks, until something—or rather someone- does.

Miss Mary Mifford is hardly the ideal candidate to be his duchess—given her lack of wealth and connections, along with the bothersome fact that she is the prime suspect in a murder—but Henry is smitten. Determined to help the young lady, Henry throws himself into investigating the death of the rector, Mr Parsims, hoping to clear her name.

With a long list of suspects, Henry suspects that the task might be difficult; though it might prove easier to solve a murder than to convince an earnest spinster that she should be his bride...

A Death, A Duke, and Miss Mifford is the first book in the Regency Murder and Marriage Series, by Claudia Stone. A light, witty, and fun read this story is sure to delight fans of Regency Romance and Cozy Mysteries alike.

©2020, 2025 Claudia Stone (P)2025 Claudia Stone

Odd Narration Choice

While Tim Fearon read quite well, his voice was a bit jarring for a romantic cozy mystery. He sounded nothing like a young duke, nor Miss Mifford, and even when taking the long view of him simply being The Narrator, his tone was much more like one would expect for a Jeeves and Wooster than this. If I read further in this series it probably won’t be the audio versions, though I would listen to other kinds of books from this narrator. The pairing of the two was simply off for me.

Enjoyable, well written, light Regency romantic murder mystery!

I finally found a good Romantic Regency novel by a current writer Claudia Stone. I have loved the Romantic Regency novels by Georgette Heyer who wrote her excellent books from 1921-1974. Claudia Stone is the best author I have found. She keeps the Regency period with added murder mystery real and accurate in this book. This is a good enjoyable light read. If you love the Regency era as much as I do I suggest the excellent, humorous, engrossing more fleshed out novels by Georgette Heyer. Ms. Heyer also wrote separate murder mystery books that were not my cup of tea. Georgette Heyer only wrote one Regency book I did not like, it was Lady of Quality.

Fun Read

Very cute romance with a little mystery thrown in. Light, quick read. Tim Fearon was phenomenal.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Cliches, Humbug!

While the reader was excellent, the story is so laden with cliches that it ended up irritating me.

It is ok, not bad, just not great

Might be the wrong narrator, but I think the writing is just a bit flat, one dimensional, and cliche. Cliff notes versions that hints at the potential for wit.