Murder, the Prince Regent, and Brighton Bathwater

A Cozy Regency Mystery of Love and Murder

By: Marisa Paxon

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

I am the narrator of this book, which means I already dragged everyone through Brighton’s wind, pebbles, and social spite, and now they want me to sell it too. Fine. Have your little summary. Try not to drip on the carpet.

It begins with Brighton’s finest nuisance, a gossip columnist, washed up dead in full dress, as if the sea itself has finally taken offence at being reviewed. Miss Honoria Finch, companion to the Duchess of Wrexham and long-suffering handler of shawls and ankles, finds herself far too close to the corpse and far too interesting to the Prince Regent’s private secretary, Arthur Deverell, who has the manners of a ledger and the patience of a man paid to tidy disasters before breakfast.

Unfortunately for her peace, Mr Vale is found clutching Honoria’s private letter, and Deverell decides the most efficient way to keep the Prince’s name out of the papers is to keep Honoria under his eye. So she is marched straight into the Pavilion’s glittering rooms, where invitations are multiplying like rabbits, strangers are turning up where they should not, and every smile has the look of someone counting how much ruin it would buy. I have narrated ballrooms before; they always smell of perfume and peril, and never in equal measure.

Honoria stands to lose her position, her reputation, and the fragile safety of being “nobody”, because someone has decided to write her name into a drowning and call it convenient. And while she and Deverell circle the truth through gossip, forged cards, and a suspect list disguised as a guest list, they commit the worst Regency sin of all: noticing one another with intent. Do not look at me like that; I merely report the facts and mop up the consequences.

Perfect for readers who want a witty Regency seaside whodunit, sharp banter, ballroom politics, and competent people being forced to work together while pretending it is purely for practical reasons.

Expect a clue-rich mystery with a satisfying, logical reveal, non-gory danger, and a closed-door slow-burn romance with an HEA, all in a complete stand-alone case you can read in any order. Now click Look Inside and let us get this over with.