Many thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op/Tenacious Teacup Press for an ARC of this book.

The two spinsters of the title are Judith St. Clair, eldest daughter of a humble curate recently made rector, and the haughty Louisa-Margaretta Haddington, only daughter of a wealthy and aspiring industrialist. Her father buys himself into the ‘haut ton’ of Regency England as easily as buying Wycliff Castle, a former aristocratic residence.

The corpse in question is that of Louisa-Margaretta’s ‘Aunt’ Matilda, a widow and honorary family member. She has some influence among the Haddingtons because of her vague kinship to her cousins, and possible suitors, the Ramsbury brothers. The eldest, Ephraim, who mourns his young wife and struggles to raise their twin daughters, has particularly needed her help.

The two young women are opposites who form an unlikely partnership in a bid to uncover the murderer. Judith is a typical homely, scrawny and charmless spinster who pays little attention to her appearance. Louisa-Margaretta is as regal as her name, voluptuous, beautiful, fashionable, attracting suitors easily. Despite the gap in their social status, both have made their social debut. Both have been ‘out’ so long that are subject to family pressure to marry soon. Yet neither wants to, if for very different reasons, which leads to a certain amount of game playing, plotting, and collusion between them.

This is a classic ‘locked room’ mystery. Aunt Matilda, not really liked even by Ephraim despite his gratitude, expires in the middle of a ball that the recently-arrived Haddingtons have thrown to introduce themselves and the new rector into Derbyshire society. Ordinarily the St. Clairs would be excluded from such an event, but it happens that the curate is a close friend of the industrialist, who bought him the rectory and is, in effect, introducing Judith and the young Miriam to a possible dowry-less match.

In any event, neither Judith nor Louisa-Margretta want to be there. They separately take refuge in the library, where they meet rather awkwardly. Each is blunt-spoken and independent thinking, not admired traits in young women of their time. Judith is depressed about the sudden death of their mother, and bitter about being forced to move to the new parish in frozen Derbyshire. Louis-Margaretta was also forcibly removed to Wycliff Castle, where she is virtually imprisoned by her worried mother.

The two, barely capable of conversation, inadvertently witness some strange and suspicious activity. They see Matilda heading to a nearby bedroom, followed by her ‘nephew’ Morgan. They assume that he escorted the drunken Matilda to her bed.

In very short order, Mr Haddington announces that the festivities are over and all guests must depart. A doctor is summoned. Matilda is dead.

Did Morgan do it? He is a gentle soul, but he was seemingly the last to see her alive. What about Ephraim, though he was the closest to her? Or the dashing youngest brother, Theo, who had recently been challenged to a dual and now owed ‘a debt of honour.’ Although the women bicker over the suspects, the case, of course, is not that open-and-close. Every one of them has a possible motive, as do other family members and locals. And everyone, including Louisa-Margaretta, has a secret.

The plot is fairly familiar, but it is refreshing in how it shows the female characters, young and old, as quick-witted and sharp-tongued, despite knowing full well how they ‘must’ act in public. They do not see marriage as innately fulfilling, merely as a way to survive. For her part, Judith refuses even to concede that, wanting only to study mathematics and own her own bank. This is a quick, clever and humorous story, with interesting female perspectives and good attention to period detail. It is the first in a planned series of ‘two spinster’ murder mysteries that promise to be good fun.

In "Two Spinsters and A Corpse," two Regency-era spinsters - Judith St Clair, a pious young woman, and Louisa-Margaretta Haddington, a lovesick heiress - are forced to work together to solve a murder they inadvertently witness at a Christmas ball. Despite their mutual disdain, the unlikely duo combines their strengths to navigate the dangerous intrigue surrounding Wycliff Castle. As they dig deeper, their investigation turns perilous, compelling them to catch the killer before Christmas, or risk becoming the next victims.

The Regency setting was richly detailed and felt thoroughly well-researched. I love Regency settings for stories, and a Regency-set murder mystery is always fun because of all the social rules and the impact that scandal can have, and how that could lead to murder. I enjoyed the murder mystery plot and, while I had my suspicions about who the murderer was, I didn’t figure out the 'why' behind the murders. The motive made complete sense when all the information was revealed at the end.

For me, a book of around 200 pages should have me racing through it as there isn't much room for filler in a book that length, but I found that this had a bit of a slow start. It does pick up pace when we get properly into the murder mystery, but there were still some chapters where not much happened. This was probably emphasized by how short some of the chapters were.

I see that this is the first book in a series, so the two main female characters, Judith and Louisa-Margaretta, will likely undergo a lot of development over the planned series, which is really promising. Now that the characters and their families have been established, the later books could dive right into the action of the new mystery plots, which will probably address the pacing issue I experienced here. This series definitely has potential for interesting mystery stories and character development.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from NetGalley, but this is my voluntary and honest review.

Definitely a great title, and a lot of good going for the book, but lacking something that I couldn't put my finger on. This book had all of the things that many will like: Regency England, mystery (a decent one that isn't so obvious), and cozy vibes - maybe there needed to be a bit more suspense. Maybe the title was a tad misleading? I did love the author's work of creating the setting - I felt like I was fully present in all of the scenes for that time period. All in all, I enjoyed this book, and may look into reading the others that are coming in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op/Tenacious Teacup Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The title was a definite draw with this one and I love a regency vibe so it was a certain pick up.

It was steady in the progression of the plot and I just love this era, especially with an added mystery and murder/ detective element. The main characters were also easy to like and the main story itself was investing enough that you needed to get to the bottom of what was going on but I did occasionally find my attention wavering on this one.

It took me longer to read this than I thought it would (not sure why) but I did find myself taking a few breaks from it and it was a bit of a struggle to get back again but my own issue not the book itselfs. Maybe because I was in want of a bit more action and adventure.

The regency era vibes were great though and I’m glad I saw it to the end of its conclusion. There are also a load more planned in this series so plenty more to look forward to if continuing on with this series!

I have surprisingly finished this book. However short it was compared to my other reads, i feared it would drag on forever. And yet, I have mostly words of praise for the author and her accomplishments.

Firstly, I must mention the bits I found extremely annoying. Let me tell you, when I figured out there would be no romance between our spinsters, half of my excitement went down the drain. I don't have anything against a well written friendship, but the context was way too tempting for them to not have fallen for each other. Also, the genuine murder investigation took place only in the last third of the book and that was so rushed I barely understood anything(well, i did understand, but everything moved too fast). The other two were simply spent building characters and scenery, having two inexperienced girls playing at detectives while finding no useful clues.

Secondly, there were parts I really loved. For instance the author's ability to create such uniquely characters all set in the same world, in the same house no less, without making things too crowded. Each insight into whatever character was present was dealt with such ease that left me curious for more every time. Another aspect that I found pleasant was the depiction of the world and the regency era. It was as if I was transported in those times, going on walks throughout the frozen grounds of Derbyshire. The author truly has a knack for world building and creating a mesmerising scenery to simply fall in love with.

Judith definitely deserves her own paragraph because she was splendid. I particularly loved the close analysis of her grief and ingeniousity regarding the murders and her interactions with Louise-Margaretta. This book is worth reading if only for her perspective and nothing else.

Overall, this book was a pleasant journey in which the good and the bad parts mixed together to form a compelling murder mystery and a particularly nice character analysis.

Many thanks to Netgalley for offering this ARC in exchange of my honest review.

A good cozy mystery set in regency England. Enjoyed this one and the reasoning of the murders and following the clues. Not exactly sure why they were called spinsters, since both found romance, but might just be me. Still though, enjoyed this one and would recommend it.

A quick read murder mystery with a cast of characters who are each unhappy and despondent with life, due to their own set of tragedies and circumstances. They all converge to celebrate the holidays but family members end up dead - is it murder, suicide, or natural causes? Two unlikely ladies become friends to solve the mystery.

It was an enjoyable read with twists and turns and a plot twist I didn’t see coming!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author’s independent publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

#netgalley #twospinstersandacorpse

Thank you to NetGalley and to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op | Tenacious Teacup Press for allowing me to read this -earc!


Two Spinsters and a Murder Mystery. . . is. well. It existed? It was a book I read. I will admit this is possibly because I queerbaited myself, but when I read the synopsis, my brain immediately went to "sapphics". There were no reviews at that point, so I figured I had hope. I knew the chances were little, but I still thought it might be gay? I later showed it to others who also made the same assumptions.

Reader, it was not. One character I guess might be on the aroace spectrum with all the interest she's shown, as he is also into Math and has Ambitions of Running A Bank, which. . . . I guess the nerdiness bit feels aroace. It's the stereotype for that now, after all. But yes, certainly straight. There was a moment I thought we were going to even find out her reverend father would be secretly marrying queer people. . . and then the text went on to explain that (white, cishet) marriages can also be disgraceful, with older man/younger woman, pregnancies, and so on.

I found it fairly difficult to tell the brothers apart, and Louisa-Margaretta's habit of going off on Judith's hypothesis, saying that "of course this cannot be true" only to find out her next POV chapter that it was felt fairly annoying in that it did mean Judith was always correct and right. Nor would i say the two really despised each other-- it was more like a status-based dislike (Judith) and an irritation (Louisa-Margaretta).

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=2.75 | 😘=1 | 🤬=1 | ⚔️=2.5 | 14+

summary: the title says it all? two spinsters—one wealthy, one a rector’s daughter—have to solve a mystery in Regency England.

thoughts: the mystery is pretty good—classic cozy historical mystery shenanigans; we love to see it. however. however!! this should have been gay!!!!!! I can’t emphasize enough. with a title like “Two Spinsters and a Corpse” sapphic Regency shenanigans is inherently implied?? so please explain to my why in the final chapter of this novel one of the heroines professes interest in MARRYING HER COUSIN. you’re telling me we get incest and NO GAYS???????? shameful.

the mystery was still good though.

What a fun murder mystery. In Two Spinsters and a Corpse, we’ll find out if they can solve the mystery in time. What a fun read.