Cosy Regency Mystery

Miss Flora Bridges is well accustomed to village gossip—but while whispers of witchcraft she can endure, accusations of murder are quite another matter.

This sparkling box set includes all four full-length novels in Claudia Stone’s Regency Murder and Marriage series—a delightful blend of cosy mystery, romantic mischief, and sharp-tongued heroines who always find trouble… and often find love along the way.

Miss Sarah Hughes has long accepted her fate as the dustiest spinster on the shelf in Plumpton—until a local landowner is found dead, and suspicion falls on her father. Determined to protect her family, Sarah is drawn into village gossip, family secrets, and one extremely inconvenient alliance: a fake courtship with the Earl of Ashford.

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.

Having come to the realisation that the life of a spinster is only glamorous when one is rich and doesn't live with one's mother, Miss Jane Mifford decides that it is high time she finds herself a man. Fortuitously one — quite literally — lands at her feet in the shape of Mr Ivo Bonville. Handsome, charming, and rich, Mr Bonville is not the usual bachelor one finds in the Cotswolds. Unfortunately, Mr Bonville is soon accused of murdering the local viscount, Lord Crabb, in order to inherit his title.

The only ambition Miss Emily Mifford holds for her first season in London is to endure it without completely humiliating herself; a difficult task when one has an unfortunate habit of saying precisely the wrong thing at the wrong time... After clashing publicly with the odious Lady Hardthistle, Emily soon learns that there are worse things than being embarrassed—like being accused of murder! When the belligerent baroness is found strangled to death at a ball, the finger of blame points at Emily.

Late December, 1818: As Captain Gabriel Lacey prepares for his upcoming wedding, his former neighbor, Marianne Simmons, comes to him about an actress friend who's gone missing. Lacey agrees to help look for the actress, little realizing that the search will pit him against men who think nothing of abduction, assault, or sending incendiary devices to the innocent.

The former Beatrice Hyde-Clare is having a little trouble adjusting to her new situation. Now installed as the duchess of Kesgrave in elegant splendor in Berkeley Square, she is confounded by the stately residence’s seemingly endless array of rooms. And every time one of the maids addresses her as "your grace", she flinches.

As much as Beatrice Hyde-Clare relished the challenge of figuring out who murdered a fellow guest during a house party in the Lake District, she certainly does not consider herself an amateur investigator. So when a London dandy falls dead at her feet in the entryway of a London Daily Gazette, she feels no compulsion to investigate. It was a newspaper office, after all, and reporters are already on the case as are the authorities.

Having inexplicably nabbed the duke of Kesgrave, 26-year-old spinster Beatrice Hyde-Clare is determined to marry him at once, and no amount of hand-wringing from anxious family members, worried friends, and well-meaning acquaintances will convince her to delay. Except, maybe, she is a little swayed by her uncle’s efforts to make amends for treating her with cold indifference during her childhood.

Since the new Duchess of Kesgrave cannot be swayed from her unfortunate interest in dead bodies, Lady Abercrombie decides to confront the matter head-on by hosting a murder mystery dinner party. Gathering together several of society’s most influential members, she concocts an amusing puzzle-play, assigns roles, and stands back to allow Bea to impress them all with her ingenuity.

Finally, Flora Hyde-Clare has wrest the narrative from Beatrice by finding her own compelling murder mystery to solve. Well, it’s not entirely her own because the victim is her cousin’s former beau Mr. Theodore Davies, whose father cruelly separated the young lovers (though not so cruelly, for it left the door open for Bea to woo the duke of Kesgrave).

Beatrice, Duchess of Kesgrave, emerges from a wretched night’s sleep to discover him embracing the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. His former mistress! It is shocking, yes, but not so very alarming, for Penelope Taylor is actually there to see Bea. Her dearest friend has been brutally slain, and as Millicent Lloyd happened to be sleeping in the courtesan’s bed at the time, Mrs. Taylor is the only suspect. The magistrate is impatient to cart her off to Newgate and refuses to acknowledge the truth that is glaringly obvious to her: She was the intended victim.

A refused proposal turns into a battle of wills when Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are forced to endure each other’s company at the beautiful estate of Rosings. When an unlikely enemy reveals herself - and ends up dead - fingers are eager to point at Elizabeth. With the residents of Rosings conspiring against her, will Elizabeth's clever mind secure her freedom? Or will her prejudice against Mr. Darcy poison her against her greatest ally? As suspicions rise and the evidence mounts, Elizabeth learns the value of a loyal friend and the forgiveness of love...but will it be too late?

Brought to you by Penguin. The festive season is fast approaching. Jane Austen fears that without her siblings at home, there won’t be much Christmas cheer in the Austen household this year. But when she uncovers a skeleton in the cellar of Deane Rectory, Jane soon forgets her woes. Who needs...

Lizzy arrives at Hunsford to visit Charlotte, having mixed feelings to discover Darcy is in the vicinity to see his aunt, the formidable Lady Catherine. They are inevitably thrown together, and she starts to see a different side to him. When Miss Anne becomes the victim of an extortion scheme, Lizzy volunteers to help identify the blackmailer. She is surprised when Mr. Darcy volunteers his assistance, seemingly accepting the situation and his cousin’s actions.

A month after solving the murder of the Duke of Everton, Miss Victoria Parker is ready to indulge in a week of leisure. And, what better setting than the quiet solitude of the farm belonging to the brother of her assistant, James Kensington? Although the getaway sounds promising, it does come with two caveats: Victoria and James must quieten their budding romance, and they must play guardian to James’ 18-year-old niece, Dinah, a task to which Vicky readily agrees, and a decision she will soon regret.

When Lady Emma Percival's father dies, leaving her penniless and alone, she fears that she will end up on the streets. Help is at hand, albeit from an unlikely source, when it transpires that her father has appointed his greatest enemy to be her guardian. The Duke of Liscarroll is a cold-hearted brute whom Emma spars with at every turn, but soon their angry altercations turn to something else entirely....

Lady Marblehead is not pleased. In fact, she’s furious. Not only is someone trying to poison her, but the impertinent scoundrel is after her jewels, too. All the clues seem to point to her new doctor, a young Jewish man recently arrived in London. But is he really the one responsible? Or is there some darker, more malevolent force at work? In this first book in the Jewish Regency Mystery Series, it’s up to wealthy-widower-turned-sleuth Mr. Ezra Melamed to find the culprit—before the poisoner strikes again.

After receiving a most unexpected personal invitation for a weekend of leisure and celebration, Miss Victoria Parker leaves London for the country seat of the Duke of Everton. Although unsure as to why a lowly spinster such as she would be invited anywhere by a duke, Victoria's trusted assistant, James Kensington, assures her it must concern her late father’s accounting firm, which she secretly runs.