I had to laugh. Just when I finished Julia Seales’ debut mystery, A Most Agreeable Murder, two readers asked me to post a review about a book that they would not want to add to their TBR pile. While this book didn’t fit my sense of humor, I know there are readers who will be delighted to pick up one that the editor says combines Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, and “the zaniness…in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies“. If that’s your sense of humor, you might love this book.

Swampshire is a small community in England, built on a swamp, where the frogs are often heard, and the footsteps can be heard squelching through the mud. Years ago, the Ashbrook who founded the town established principles of perfect etiquette for the residents, and even wrote two separate books about etiquette for women.

In the Steele family, two out of four of the women abide by those principles. The youngest often disappears, and Beatrice, the oldest daughter, has learned to appear to abide by those principles. Like her father, though, a man who delights in practical jokes, Beatrice has an obsession. Once she read a newspaper column about Sir Huxley, a dashing detective, and his disgraced business partner, Vivek Drake, Beatrice became obsessed with reading about and solving murders. She keeps that hidden.

When the Ashbrooks invite the family to a ball at Stabmort Park, Mrs. Steele hopes her middle daughter, Louisa, will attract the attention of the wealthy Edmund Croaksworth. Beatrice hopes to avoid boredom or causing a scene. It’s Croaksworth who causes a scene, though, when he dies at the ball. Beatrice is delighted though. She can use her detecting skills because she suspects murder. She might just have to work with Croaksworth’s guest, though, the disgraced, annoying Vivek Drake.

As all of the guests attempt to maintain proper etiquette in the face of Croaksworth’s death, a storm rages outside, and the search for a killer rages inside. Beatrice will have to throw etiquette aside in her attempt to investigate.

As I said, the humor about etiquette and frogs and squelch holes with a cast of obnoxious people who try too hard to be proper just isn’t for me. But, I have no doubt that some readers will find Seales’ debut to be a delightful, fun mystery.

A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales. Random House, 2023. ISBN 9780593449981 (hardcover), 352p.

FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent an ARC of the book, with no promise of a positive review.