fuonlyknew

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Once Upon a Murder (A Lady Librarian Mystery)
by Samantha Larsen

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Once Upon a Murder (A Lady Librarian Mystery) by Samantha Larsen

Publication Date: February 20, 2024
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books 
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1639106219
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1639106219
Digital  ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C4J6WW7B

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Book Synopsis

Miss Tiffany Woodall must sleuth the slaying of a footman to clear her beloved’s name in the second Lady Librarian mystery, in the vein of Deanna Raybourn and perfect for fans of Bridgerton.

1784 England. Officially hired as the librarian for the Duchess of Beaufort, Miss Tiffany Woodall is through with masquerades and murders for good. That is, until she stumbles upon the frozen dead body of former footman Mr. Bernard Coram. The speed with which her peaceful new life is upended is one for the record books: the justice of the peace immediately declares her the primary suspect in the murder.

As Tiffany hunts for the truth to clear her name, she learns that Bernard got into a fight over a woman at the local pub the night of his death–but he was also overheard blackmailing Samir. The justice of the peace arrests Samir, and Tiffany realizes that her life may have more in common with a tragic play than a light-hearted romance.

With her love locked up in jail and her own reputation on the line, Tiffany must attempt to solve the murder before the book closes on her or Samir’s life.

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Enjoy this peek inside:

It was a man.

            And his body was half covered in snow. Which meant that the corpse was cold and most likely dead. Warm skin melted snow, like the wet on her cheeks that looked like tears. Tiffany stooped down to her knees and saw that the man was very tall. Even face down in the mud, he had to be six feet. Practically a giant. He wore no hat and the back of his head and hair were covered in blood.

            With all of her strength, Tiffany tried to turn the body over. She pushed with her hand and then added her right shoulder until the form slowly turned face up. The legs still tangled stiffly together.

            She knew that face.

            Even muddy and bloody, she would have recognized Mr. Bernard Coram anywhere.

            Tiffany yanked off her wet glove and pressed her hand against his neck. There was no pulse there. His skin was as cold as ice and extremely pale. One of his eyes looked as if it had been blackened. And there were four long scratches on his left cheek. His lips were blue and snow frosted his eyebrows. He’d been dead for many hours.

            While Tiffany had never liked the handsome young man and former footman, she certainly hadn’t wished for his death.

            And what was he doing near her cottage?

            Bristle Cottage was at least a mile from the village of Mapledown and the road in front of her house led to Astwell Palace. The place where he had been dismissed five months previous for his terrible treatment of the Duchess of Beaufort’s adopted son, Mr. Thomas Montague. She recalled that his parent’s farm was somewhere near the village.

            Who or what had killed him?

            Only last year, Tiffany had helped solve her own half brother’s murder and the death of a lady’s maid. They had both been the unintended victims of the late Duke of Beaufort’s efforts to kill his wife and marry his lover. Tiffany had begun to unravel the mystery when she discovered that the two victims had both been given a snuffbox by the Duchess of Beaufort. Poison had been the murderer’s weapon of choice. She glanced around the road and open area. Between the mud and snow, she didn’t see a rock large enough to bludgeon a head. Nor any other manmade item that might have been used as a weapon.

            The sleet had covered up any tracks that might have been left by an animal or the murderer. The scratches on his face could indicate an unfortunate meeting with a wolf or a bear. She remembered the fairytale from her childhood, Little Red Riding Hood. A young girl goes into the forest to visit her grandmother’s cottage and is tricked by a wolf disguised as her.

“Grandmamma, what great arms you have got!”

“That is the better to hug thee, my dear.”

“Grandmamma, what great legs you have got!”

“That is to run the better, my child.”

“Grandmamma, what great ears you have got!”

“That is to hear the better, my child.”

“Grandmamma, what great eyes you have got!”

“It is to see the better, my child.”

“Grandmamma, what great teeth you have got!”

“That is to eat thee up.”

Then the wolf eats the girl. Tiffany’s cottage was in the forest, however, there were no Big Bad Wolf’s footprints in the mud. Only the two freshly made ruts by the wheels of a carriage which led her to believe that Bernard had met his death at the hands of a human.

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About Samantha Larsen

Samantha Larsen met her husband in a turkey sandwich line. They live in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she spends most of her time reading, eating popcorn, having tea parties, and chasing her four kids. She has degrees from Brigham Young University, the University of North Texas, and the University of Reading (UK). She also writes historical romances under Samantha Hastings. Learn more at www.SamanthaHastings.com

Author Links: Website / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter

Purchase Links
Amazon – B&N – Books A Million – Powells Books – Bookshop.org – Target – Walmart 

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