Music, Mayhem and Matrimony

An extravagant country estate, a determined young woman, and a gathering that takes a deadly turn set the scene for Music, Mayhem and Matrimony by Julie Anne Grasso. Lettice Marigold arrives at her aunt Lady Marigold’s impressive estate hoping to make a good impression on London’s leading publisher. But Aunt Hattie has more than professional success in mind. With marriage firmly on her agenda, she places Lettice among five other hopeful contenders and creates a series of increasingly elaborate challenges designed to determine who will win her heart’s desire. The unusual competition takes a darker turn when Lady Marigold dies in front of the assembled guests. Suddenly, Lettice faces a far more serious problem than the challenges themselves: she must prove that she had nothing to do with her aunt’s death if she hopes to inherit the fortune. Her best chance may lie in joining forces with Gilbert Lewis, a charming man whose connection to her is more complicated than she expected. Set in the English countryside of the mid-1930s, the novel combines traditional cozy-mystery elements with a gentle, closed-door romantic thread. Readers can look forward to an amateur investigation, hidden motives, family complications, inheritance questions, and the social atmosphere of an interwar country estate. This book is suited to readers who enjoy historical cozy mysteries, amateur sleuths, female-led investigations, clean romance, and entertaining stories where family matchmaking and murder collide.