A gothic cozy mystery series, starring a midlife protagonist, and set in a magical version of Regency England.

A Regency widow shouldn’t be hunting spectres all night.

Lady Judith Avely’s magical gift for divining the truth makes her prodigiously good at lying. To absolve a guilty secret, she travels to the exiled Duke of Sargen’s estate, but the last thing she expects is to run into the duke himself, who is lamentably now even more attractive than in his volatile youth.

The duke has his own concerns: he has returned home to a haunted house, with skulls floating about and a footman apparently bashed by a book. Such vulgar circumstances are best avoided, but the duke needs Judith’s unique talents to help uncover the culprit – even if it might put her in the sights of a killer.

With the help of a tiny vampiric acquaintance and a continuous supply of drinking chocolate, Judith should be able to solve the uncanny mystery…if only the duke will stop making improper remarks about her mobcaps.

A lady who can discern lies, the duke who lied to her, and a gothic cosy mystery full of bats, skulls, and cocoa.

Lady Avely’s Guide to Truth and Magic features a mid-life heroine, a slow-burn second-chance romance, and a magical version of Regency England.

THE REVIEW

I fell in love with Ms Oak’s miniature vampires, barely 2″ tall in the old measure, when I binged on her ‘Lady Diviner’ series, and had been hounding the author for the release date for her new spin-off series for over a year. ‘Lady Avely’s Guide to Truth and Magic’ did not disappoint.

There is a subtle difference in the tone between the two series. In the Lady Diviner books the reader is invited to join Miss Elinor Avely, is a a jewel diviner, who befriends a tiny spinster vampire (a necessity if one is practicing magic as without such a companion a practitioner is likely to become bemused). Together they solve mysteries, find romance, and practice good manners in adverse circumstances, with a focus on good manners. A particularly difficult task when there is a certain amount of nakedness involved, as must occur when vampires transform to and from their bat body.

With ‘Matronly Misadventures’ Lady Judith Avely, who is Elinor’s mother, is considerably more relaxed about the need for manners (unless it applies to the necessity for mobcaps), a fortunate trait when it comes to dealing with her own tiny companion, to quote:

[Lady Avely] crossed to the bedside drawer and slid it open and blinked, for Miss Cultor [the vampire] was lying quite at her ease, completely naked, on her stomach on the orange-gold cloth. Her chin rested on her hands and she looked quizzically up at Judith.

There remains a search for a murderer, any number of suspects, while maintaining at least some continuing need for good manners:

Lord John looked glum. “A fine library if it will stop raining blood.”

“John!” snapped Lady Agatha. “Do not refer to such vulgar subjects at the dining table.”

And now I have to wait until December (9 months 10 days) before I can read the sequel.