This Regency time-travel romantic suspense mystery from Arabella Sheraton is on tour with Pump Up Your Book.
BLURB: Escape into the drama and romance of the Regency era with To Murder a Marquis, an immersive time travel adventure full of mystery and passion. When modern-day Jane Carstairs awakens in nineteenth-century England, she's thrust into a captivating world of lords and ladies, grand estates, and old-fashioned courtship. But Jane soon realizes there's a sinister murder plot afoot. As Jane works to discover the truth, she finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue. Will she solve the mystery in time or fall victim to the assassin? And can Jane resist the magnetic pull of attraction in this unfamiliar era? Transport yourself back to the richly detailed Regency world and join Jane on her unforgettable quest for justice and love. With vivid descriptions, gripping suspense, and passionate romantic encounters, To Murder a Marquis is a time travel adventure you won't want to miss. Embark on the journey today and discover why readers are raving about this unique, spellbinding tale of courage, connection, and timeless romance.
COVER: One of the reasons I've been drawn to Regency romance is that the cover art is always stunning. The cover for To Murder a Marquis clearly displays the genre with its elegant font and gold accents. I like how the marquis' face is partially hidden. The background of dark, mysterious woods ties into the meeting of the main characters in the opening chapter. This cover designer knows how to attract readers.
FIRST CHAPTER: Jane Amelia Carstairs is awoken from her nap under a tree by the furious barking of an unknown dog wanting her attention. Suddenly dressed in period costume, Jane wonders who carried out this odd prank. She decides to follow the distressed dog through the trees, where she discovers an even bigger surprise.
KEEP READING: Most definitely! Sheraton has chosen a first-person point of view for the opening book in her Regency Time Slip Mystery series, which is pleasantly unique. Jane quickly engages the reader as she ponders what the heck happened to her while she slept. I love when authors drop you right into the action, which Sheraton did so well. It appears Jane carries a bit of personal baggage into this story with her, so it will be interesting to see how much of an impact that has on her along the way. I loved this chapter so much that I ordered a Kindle version so I can read the rest at my leisure.
Furious barking woke me from a very nice dream in which my ex-fiancé Allan Hunter was on his knees, begging me to stay, and I had just flung his ring back in his face in a most satisfying manner. The fact he’d dumped me for a full-breasted bistro waitress called Tawnee—that’s right, with a double “e”—who clearly said all the right adoring things, had the intelligence of a single-celled organism, and was a tigress in the bedroom was something I chose to ignore.
The dog wouldn’t stop barking. I opened my eyes, and there he was, a beautiful russet-coloured retriever, barking like mad, but with his tail wagging. Still slightly dazed, I shook my head. What the hell was I doing lying under a tree? I was supposed to be in the library at Chelston Hall, helping Dad, who was in hospital in London with bronchitis, collate the archives of the Hadley family. I could almost hear him say, “Jane Carstairs, what on earth are you doing there when you should be working?”
The dog was still barking. I’m not afraid of dogs so I raised myself on one elbow. “Here, boy. What’s the matter?”
I held out one hand for him to come over and have a sniff as an introduction. The dog took a few steps forward, then ran back to his original spot, and barked once. Clearly, a clever canine. He was telling me something. But what? I struggled to sit up. For some reason, my clothes were constricting; something like a straitjacket encircled my chest. Instead of my casual T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, I wore an ankle-length flowing dress, and short lace-up boots, along with a tight, short, long-sleeved jacket. I was in period costume straight out of Pride and Prejudice. Not funny! Someone had obviously pranked me but managing to undress and get me into this suffocating costume was beyond a joke. Plus, how did I get from sitting in a chair in the library to lying under a tree?
Back to the dog again, which now seemed very agitated. He ran back and forth a bit and whined. By pulling my dress and copious amounts of petticoat up to my knees, tearing something at the jacket shoulder in the process, I managed to stand. The dog ran off through the trees as if on a mission. Maybe someone was hurt, and the mutt was looking for help? Dogs can be so clever that way. Running in the narrow skirt was impossible so I hitched the skirt as high as I could and chased after the dog. Ten minutes later I arrived, panting, at the scene of a bloody accident. Bloody is no exaggeration. A man, also dressed in period costume—riding gear—lay on his back, his arms flung out. He was either asleep, or unconscious, or ... I didn’t even want to consider the last option. The dog stood next to him, its tail wagging. It looked at me, whining as if to say, “Help him.” I knelt and took a closer look. Robert William Edward Hadley, the Marquis of Coleston, lay before me. An arrow protruded from the top of his left shoulder, a massive amount of blood soaked the front of his fawn-coloured coat, and he looked very dead.
– Excerpted from To Murder a Marquis by Arabella Sheraton, Bublish, Inc., 2020. Reprinted with permission.
- Publisher : Bublish, Incorporated
- Publication date : May 8, 2025
- Language : English
- Print length : 324 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1647048966
- ISBN-13 : 978-1647048969
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