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A MOST AGREEABLE MURDER

Julia Seales

Eloise Bridgerton meets Knives Out in this action-packed, humor-filled reimagining of a classic story with all of the modern day issues of gender roles, class, societal expectations, wrapped up in a pleasurable and entertaining whodunit.
Feisty, passionate Beatrice Steele has never fit the definition of a true lady, according to the strict code of conduct that reigns in her small English township. Nevertheless, she lives a perfectly agreeable life with her marriage-scheming mother, prankster father, and two younger sisters - beautiful Louisa and forgettable Mary. But she harbors a dark secret: She is obsessed with the true crime cases she reads about in the newspaper, even going so far as to try to solve them herself. If anyone in her etiquette-obsessed community found out, she'd be deemed a morbid creep and banished from respectable society forever.

For her family's sake, she's vowed to put her obsession behind her. Because eligible bachelor Edmund Croaksworth is set to attend the approaching autumnal ball, and the Steele family hopes that Louisa will steal his heart. If not, Martin Grub, their disgusting cousin, will inherit the family's estate, and they will be ruined, or even worse, forced to move to mime-infested France. So Beatrice must be on her best behavior... which is made difficult when a disgraced yet alluring detective inexplicably shows up to the ball.

Beatrice is just holding things together when Croaksworth drops dead in the middle of a minuet. As a storm rages outside, the evening descends into a frenzy of panic, fear, and betrayal as it becomes clear they are trapped with a killer. Contending with competitive card games, tricky tonics, and Swampshire's infamous squelch holes, Beatrice must rise above decorum and decency to pursue justice and her own desires - before anyone else is murdered.

Julia Seales is a novelist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. She earned an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA, and a BA in English from Vanderbilt University. She has worked on shows such as the upcoming Mr. and Mrs. Smith starring Donald Glover.
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Published 2023-06-27 by Random House

Book

Published 2023-06-27 by Random House

Comments

Despite its title, A MOST AGREEABLE MURDER is as much a parody of Regency conventions as it is a jaunty sendup of the locked-room mystery. Julia Seales is an American screenwriter, but she's clearly a devout Anglophile. It's with a loving hand and a gimlet eye that she guides us through one fateful evening among the ever-so-proper elite of the aptly named township of Swampshire.

A Most Agreeable Murder is an utter delight. A fast-paced mix of marriage plot and manor house murder mystery with something for everyone: a scintillating romance, an intricate puzzle to solve, and layers of snarky, pointed wit that would make Austen proud. I snorted and swooned my way through this book in record speed - it's some of the most fun I've had reading all year. Cozy mystery fans, this is a must.

[An] exceptional debut... The intricate plot races along at a sprightly pace, and Seales delights with her sharp humor and accomplished sense of narrative control. Jane Austen fans will be enthralled.

Check out Julia's appearance on Everyday Kentucky Read more...

In Seales' tongue-in-cheek Regency murder mystery... The character types are endearingly familiar to anyone who has ever read a Jane Austen novel, and the dialogue crackles with wit, outrage, subtext, and pluck. Beatrice, a true Sherlock Holmes within her restrictive social world, is a delight, and while the characters may be familiar, Seales' over-the-top caricatures succeed in being humorous rather than cliché... The result is a deliciously dark delve into a world that seems genteel on the surface and teems with sex and violence and greed just underneath - not so unlike Austen's but with a morbid, rather than domestic, bent. Irreverent, satirical, and oh so much fun!

I adored this: a comedy of manners meets murder mystery, just as thrilling as it is gorgeous.

A Most Agreeable Murder begins as social satire and ascends into deadly knockabout farce... There are dotty eccentrics, secret passageways, false identities, a rumored ghost, three acts' worth of delicious banter - and an irrepressible heroine born from the ashes of her own trial by fire.

If a novel of manners and a murder mystery had a love child, this book would be the result.

A MOST AGREEABLE MURDER has been optioned for film by Tri-star pictures. Julia Seales will adapt her novel and 3Arts will produce.

Seales's outstanding debut marries Jane Austen pastiche and locked-room mystery for a sharp, wildly entertaining whodunit.

Check out Julia's appearance on Scripps News's "Morning Rush" Read more...

If you grew up reading Jane Austen and Agatha Christie (or are a more recent fan of Bridgerton and Knives Out), you will adore A Most Agreeable Murder. An effortless blend of witty delight and sexy suspense, this book is everything I want in a summer read.

Author's piece: WOMEN DETECTIVES WHO CHANGED THE GAME - Across eras, women detectives have been on the case and transforming the literature... Read more...

The book is an entertaining and witty tale that combines elements of Jane Austen's world with the intrigue of an Agatha Christie mystery. Readers can expect a delightful blend of comedy, suspense, and the pursuit of justice. [Seales] leads readers on a thrilling adventure filled with twists and turns that will keep them guessing until the very end.

A delightful cocktail that mixes elements of the Bridgerton series, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice and Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries... the payoff is a wealth of wit, hilarity and suspense.

UK & C: Orion ; Chinese (compl.): Unitas Publishing ; French: Le Masque/JC Lattes ; Greek: Metaihmio Publications ; Hungarian: IPC Konyvek ; Italian: Piemme ; Spanish: Lumen/PRH Grupo Editorial ; Ukrainian: Family Leisure Club

Absurdly entertaining, with twist upon twist upon twist, A MOST AGREEABLE MURDER is a most agreeable read! Jane Austen fans will appreciate the insightful observations as well as the wry humor that pokes fun at certain well-known characters and tropes. I look forward to more of Beatrice Steele's adventuresas well as that of the mysterious (and delightfully dashing and grumpy) Inspector Drake!

An utterly delightful murder mystery, A Most Agreeable Murder reads as if a giggly Jane Austen dipped her pen in blood. (Not too much blood, mind you; it's all quite decorous.) I loved every page of this very silly romp.

a delightfully entertaining debut that kept me engrossed from the beginning right through to the satisfying end. Witty and clever, it's like something Agatha Christie and Jane Austen might have created were they able to collaborate, only with its own wonderfully unique spark. Be prepared to laugh out loud at the comedy, gasp at the murder mystery, and altogether have a thoroughly great time!