A lady never reveals the true extent of her decay…Hannah Miles lives a quiet existence, helping her parents conduct research into a most terrible affliction – until a gruesome murder during her best friend’s engagement party pulls her from the shadows. With her specialist’s knowledge and demure disposition, Hannah is requested to aid the investigation.
Except Hannah discovers her role is to … Hannah discovers her role is to apologise in the wake of the rude and disgraced man tasked with finding the murderer. The obnoxious Viscount Wycliff thinks to employ Hannah purely as a front to satisfy Whitehall, but she’ll have none of that.
The two must work together to find the murderer before the season is ruined. But the viscount is about to meet his greatest challenge, and it’s not a member of the ton with a hankering for brains.
more
Good take on an old story
well-written. intriguing. I’d read another about Hannah, et al.
It is fun in a sort of silly way. zombies attending a ball and living amongst others.
Manners and Monsters Kindle Edition
by Tilly Wallace
This book is one of the funniest books I’ve read this year.
It is easy to imagine Jane Austen reading this aloud to her friends. It is even easier to imagine she wrote this combination of a comedy of manners, a feminist bit of steam-punkish magical mystery and zombies. Yes, zombies.
Never a fan of zombies, I went into this story with a bit of trepidation – assuming I would be reading a knock off of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Ms. Wallace takes her story in a completely different direction. A locked-room or rather a house stuffed full of the dancing Ton mystery, with the heroine Hannah doing the detecting with a ‘storm cloud’, the Lord Viscount whose father managed to lose the family fortune and drive himself into debt before he died and left it to his son to clean up his mess. Young Colin Firth would be perfect for the character.
A number of Ladies of the Ton were victims of a cursed face powder that first killed them via poison and then rose them from the dead with magic. But their resurrection came with a horrifying curse – they, like most zombies, must eat brains to not rot where they stand. One of the Afflicted is committing murder to sate her appetite.
The two main characters share the third person narration duties. Ms. Wallace does a wonderful job personalizing the characters’ voices that even without identifying the narrator at the beginning of their chapter, their voice is unique enough to notify the reader.
The plot has enough red herrings and twists to satisfy most mystery readers. Easter eggs, such as a character named Manly Powers and enough Emmas and Knightleys to please any Austen fan.
There is a serious discussion happening behind the text about women’s rights and how, throughout time, they have been curtailed by or frightened men. It is subtle but there.
This is a book that I would recommend for a summer read in a book club, because truly, there is more going on than a dashing Byronic Heron with a secret and enough PTSD to keep a therapist busy for years and a ‘plucky’ heroine with more brains than most of men in the Ton.
Side characters, such as Hannah’s mother, are delicious – good or bad.
A truly wonderful book that only created an insatiable appetite for the rest of the series
5 stars out of 5
https://www.amazon.com/Manners-Monsters-Tilly-Wallace-ebook/dp/B07Q9PJXBZ/
Regency-era paranormal mystery. A touch of magical, historical, paranormal, mystery, and perhaps the beginnings of romance too. What a fun book. I hope to get to read more in this series.
An enjoyable first in series and i have enjoyed the whole series… waiting for the last one. I enjoy regency stories and the addition of unnatural creatures makes this unusual and yet still familiar.
This story was original and very interesting.
I’m very happy with this novel , great story
and good story line
Very original.
I enjoyed this book for what it was. It does show society’s penchant for greed and the inequality of those without wealth/power but it also has a lot of humor. I found it entertaining, quite easy to read and light enough to take away the stress at the end of a long day.
I really liked the implementation of the supernatural in Regency London. The secondary protagonist is a bit crap, but maybe he’ll grow on me. (I did NOT like his perspective sections.) The primary narrator, however, is a delight, so it works out.
I enjoyed the story, fan of this time period, loved the characters. I had to get the next in the series.
To much detail and not enough story. Took forever to get to anything mildly interesting, and then I was just bored.
A great concept of dying but still walking around and being part of the living. The upkeep of the afflicted by feeding them a sliver of brain daily was novel even though that did not stop the decomposition of the ” afflicted. I wish the following books had been Kindle unlimited. I enjoyed reading this book.
Such an interesting concept. The world building gets better and more defined in the second book. I felt Hannah’s “poor me I want a husband” complaints were a little much, but as I read the other books in the series I started to understand why that was emphasized. I’ve enjoyed the other books in this series very much.
This series started a little slow & weird for me but I am now on the 4th book in the series & I’m loving it
Love all the main characters & even the strange ones
Very clever. Fresh storyline.
A wallflower daughter of a mad scientist teams up with the most ill-mannered lord in England to solve a zombie murder amongst the aristocratic ladies of the ton…
This clever cozy paranormal is a delightful read.
Loved this! What a head turner! Great premise combining science, magic and brain eating zombies. Already bought the second in the series!
Looking for more to see if they ever get a cure !
,
Enjoyed it. Reading number 2.