An Eliza Montagu Cozy Mystery Bundle: A Dollop of Death (#2) and Calamity at the Ball (#3)

Book excerpt: A bundle of books #2 (A DOLLOP OF DEATH) and #3 (CALAMITY AT THE BALL) in Fiona Grace’s Eliza Montagu cozy mystery series. This bundle offers books two and three in one convenient file, with over 150,000 words of reading. For centuries, Thistlewood Manor has stood as home to the Montagu family, a beacon to British aristocracy in rural England. But it’s 1928, and in this new age of women’s rights, Eliza Montagu, 27, a free spirit, has turned her back on her family to live an artist’s life in London. In A DOLLOP OF DEATH (Book #2), after Eliza is summoned home, she decides to stay (for now) to help her father run the ailing family business. The presence of her childhood best friend, Oliver, also gives her a reason to stay, as she wonders if their unfulfilled romance might ever come to fruition. Fall has arrived, bringing to town major Fall festivals and celebrations in the gorgeous countryside—and yet also bringing to town a female suitor who wastes no time trying to woo Oliver away. Seeing Eliza as her rival, the suitor does everything she can to malign her and make her life miserable. And when a servant turns up dead, poisoned by a slice of pie meant for Eliza, all eyes fall on the suitor. Did she mean to murder Eliza? Was the pie meant for someone else in the family? Or for the suitor herself? Eliza, realizing she is implicated, is forced to solve the perplexing murder—and ends up utterly stunned at what she discovers. In CALAMITY AT THE BALL (Book #3), Christmas has arrived in resplendent Thistlewood Manor, opulent, magical and filled with guests. The countryside is alight with local gentry balls, and Eliza’s younger sister, turning 16, is determined to visit them all—and to drag Eliza with her. But when a shocking incident occurs and Eliza discovers her sister’s suitor thrown from a balcony, suspicion for the murder falls on her. Eliza is forced to plunge into the dark side of nobility, to pry at the secrets behind the parties and balls, and determine who would want this man dead—and why. Yet even Eliza cannot anticipate the shocking truth she will discover. Future books in the series are also available.