Regency Whimsy Meets Murder: A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales

Read time: 4 minutes

🎧 Listened in audio
📢 Narrated by Fiona Hampton
⏱ Duration: 9 hours
🏷️ Publisher: Books on Tape / Random House Audio

Book Blurb:

In Julia Seales’s A Most Agreeable Murder, readers are transported to the quirky township of Swampshire, where appearances and manners matter above all else. Beatrice Steele, more interested in unsolved crimes than needlepoint, hides her macabre passion to protect her family’s reputation. But when a wealthy bachelor collapses at a ball, she must step beyond genteel decorum and partner with a disgraced detective to uncover the truth. Trapped by a storm and surrounded by suspects, Beatrice faces twisted loyalties, family secrets, and her own growing boldness in this witty, mystery-filled comedy of manners.

Let’s talk … murder!

A locked room mystery wrapped in corsets, with a heroine who’d rather read crime reports than practice the planoforte! How can I not get intrigued? Beatrice Steele is the kind of heroine you’d root for quietly. She’s clever, observant, and absolutely out of step with her oh-so-proper world. Her curiosity about crime felt refreshing, even rebellious, but I couldn’t help arguing with her over her life choices. I mean, girl, you spent half the novel carefully guarding your secret passion for true crime, and then walked directly into the crime scene like you owned the place. Make it make sense!! I get the appeal of finally having your moment. I do! but the logic didn’t hold up, and that niggled at me throughout.

Fiona Hampton’s narration sold me on the setting. Julia Seales is clearly having the time of her life poking fun at the Regency convention, and it shows. The world of Swampshire is delightfully absurt. Names that telegraph exactly who these people are, social rules that border on performance art, and a cast of characters that feels like Austen wrote them after one too many brandies. The romance with Vivek Drake sneaks up on you in the best possible way.

Where the story lost me was in its pacing. Just when I was leaning in, the mystery kept getting politely interrupted by balls, suitor assessments, and ongoing saga of Louisa’s marriage prospects. I understand why. That’s the whole comedic tension of the book. But it all felt a little too well-mannered for its own good. The killer reveal though! I didn’t see that one coming, and that earned the book a significant goodwill. A satisfying final chapter does a lot of heavy lifting for a book.

Would I recommend it?

If you’ve ever wished Bridgerton had a body count, this is your book. It’s witty, it’s absurd in all the right ways, and the killer reveal alone makes the slower middle worth sitting through. The audiobook narration is a genuinely great match for the material. I had fun, I just wasn’t obsessed, and I probably won’t be picking up the next Beatrice Steele adventure. But for a one-time romp through murderous Regency England, it was absolutely worth your 9 hours.

If you liked this book…

• The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray — Austen characters, one murder, multiple suspects. If you loved the Regency setting and the whodunit structure, this is a natural next step.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton — Regency ladies, pirates, and chaos—what’s not to love?
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett — Royal sleuthing with sharp humor and posh intrigue.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin — No murder, but the sharp social satire and a heroine playing by her own rules hits the same notes as Beatrice.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• Murder at the Merton Library by Andrea Penrose — Polished manners and sharp minds in a historical mystery.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
  

Drop the Clues, Not the Teacup!

Regency heroines who secretly want to be detectives: deeply relatable or absolutely unhinged? Where does Beatrice Steele land for you, and do you have a favourite “hidden depths” heroine from historical fiction? Tell me in the comments. I want to hear your picks!

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Reading Tracker: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
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