by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Death Below Stairs, and a link to purchase it from Amazon, and an indie bookstore where a portion of the sale goes to help support KRL.

Kat Holloway is a sought-after cook in manor house circles. Her new position is in Mayfair at the home of Lord Rankin. She expected the house to be in better order but chaos seems to be the tone. She’s barely started her job when a woman rushes into the kitchen and says she thinks she’s killed someone.

It’s Lady Cynthia, sister of the mistress of the house (a poor relation). Lady Cynthia likes to shock people so she dresses like a man most of the time. Luckily, the man isn’t dead, only injured and is carried upstairs. In the middle of the night, the injured man disappears.

Daniel is a man of mystery. Kat has been acquainted with him and his son for a while, without really knowing anything about him. She caught a glimpse of him as the injured man was moved to the house but has no way of knowing why Daniel was there.

That evening, a maid is called to bring drinks to the library. Usually that’s a signal Lord Rankin is in the mood for hanky panky. Kat goes instead, to spare the girl. She’s shocked to see Daniel, not in working man’s clothing but as a gentleman, with Lord Rankin.

When the maid is found dead in the pantry, it’s murder, but who could have gotten into the house? Or is the killer one of the family or staff? Daniel turns up as a new hire which only adds to the mystery of what is really going on in the household.

The mystery is much more than a murdered maid but a plot that brings treason and danger to Queen Victoria herself. As Kat and Daniel learn more of the plot and find ways to foil it, readers will turn the pages faster and faster to find out if they succeed.

Looking back to Victorian times with all the intrigue, class differences, and upheaval is a change of pace for cozy readers but well worth the read. A Soupçon of Poison, an e-book (novella), is the first in the series. Scandal Above Stairs will be available on July 3 or for pre-order now.

To enter to win a copy of Death Below the Stairs, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “stairs,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen February 24, 2018. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

Death Below Stairs

You can also use this link to purchase the book on Amazon. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She writes about eco-friendly topics, pets and wildlife for magazines and reviews mysteries and thrillers for KRL. A collection of her short stories, published by Untreed Reads, From Hay to Eternity: Ten Tales of Crime and Deception can be found at all the usual outlets. Each one is a little weird and all have a twist you won’t see coming.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases using those links. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.