A MURDER OF CONVENIENCE
Ellen Cuthbert’s husband, Randolph, is now the Earl of Keswick’s heir. Their marriage is a sham, and Randolph’s mistress, Lydia, is present at the house party. When she is found murdered in a locked room, all the evidence seems to point to Ellen. And how could the murderer have escaped the locked room except by witchcraft? Sir Hugh accompanies his cousin, a magistrate, to the scene of the murder. They investigate, appalled to find their childhood friend Ellen appears to be the chief suspect. Hugh’s lack of prospects years ago prevented their marriage. Now if he cannot find the real murderer, there may be only one final service he can perform for Ellen to spare her a slow death at the end of the hangman’s rope.
Excerpt
Two:
Wallace’s response to whatever news her husband’s uncle had
imparted carried. “Good! You can supply a wagon or cart and driver to take it
to Penrith?” Another few words, apparent agreement, and he sketched a bow to
the earl. Had they been talking about the body? Randolph’s face revealed
nothing.
“My lord, ladies, gentlemen, I must beg your indulgence.
There is someone Sir Hugh and I must speak with immediately,” Wallace said. “We
will begin your interviews as soon as we can.”
The earl nodded curtly and departed.
Sir Hugh, now; his father and his older brother must have
died.
Cuthbert drawled, “Need we be confined here while you take
some servant or menial out of order?”
“Yes, I fear you
must, as Lord Keswick wishes this matter dealt with in the most expeditious
manner. To do so, my colleague and I must attend upon the doctor—”
“Why, if she’s dead?”
Wallace replied more peaceably than Ellen would have
managed, but then, she had had years of Cuthbert’s ways. “So that we can get
his immediate impressions, which may help us direct our investigation. And our
work will be needlessly slowed if we have to have you and his lordship’s other
guests sent for.”
He turned to approach Ellen, who prayed he would not address
her informally.
“Mistress Cuthbert, I
must beg your patience and ask you to wait for me in the Yellow Parlor. I do
not expect to be long. A footman will escort you there.”
“Certainly, sir.” She curtsied and started for the door.
Randolph continued to sprawl in his chair.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
One day after coming home from first grade, Kathleen Buckley set about writing her own dictionary but quickly realized it would take too much time, so she read a book instead. Possibly Space Cat.
After a career which included customer service, light bookkeeping, working as a paralegal, and a stint as a security officer, she began to write as a second career, rather than as a hobby. Her first historical romance was written after re-reading Georgette Heyer’s Georgian/Regency romances for the tenth or twelfth time and wondering if she could do something like that. Apparently she could, as her eleventh will be released on 3/24/2025. As a change of pace, it’s a murder mystery, but still set in the mid-1700s (but still with some romance).
Warning: no bodices are ripped in her romances, which might be described as "powder & patch & peril" rather than Jane Austen drawing room. They contain no explicit sex, but do contain the occasional den of vice and mild bad language, as the situations in which her characters find themselves sometimes call for an oath a little stronger than "Zounds!"
https://18thcenturyromance.com/ (website)
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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/270998.Kathleen_Buckley
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kathleen-buckley
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kathleen-Buckley/author/B072J2GPZ3
https://www.pinterest.com/kathleengailbuc/
https://writing-on-el-camino-real.blogspot.com/
https://www.amazon.com/author/kbuckley (Author page)
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7 comments:
Thank you so much for featuring A MURDER OF CONVENIENCE today.
Thank you for sharing. This sounds like a good read.
Sounds like a good book.
I'm very pleased to be here today.
Sounds like an interesting mystery.
I always enjoyed mystery stories. Then I worked as a paralegal for many years, and took continuing education criminal investigation classes, so my first ten historical romance novels tended to include crime or legal issues. A Murder of Convenience is really a straight-out mystery.
Thank you, Kim. I hope it is!
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