Death of a Clergyman Blog Tour: Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

Welcome to the third stop of Riana Everly's Death of a Clergyman which was launched not too long ago. It is the first book in the new mystery themed Pride and Prejudice series called Miss Mary Investigates. If you didn't already know, you can download the prequel novella, The Mystery of the Missing Heiress for free at Amazon and get to know the characters that will play a major role in the series. Speaking of which, let us check out the author's fascinating guest post and the accompanying excerpt. After that you may wish to try your hand at winning the e-book.

Villains, Villains, Everywhere

My new novel, Death of a Clergyman, is a murder mystery, set in the world, and the action, of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. And it should come as no surprise that the victim is the clergyman Mr. Collins. I am not the first person to write a P&P mystery and I will not be the last, but I hope that my contribution to the corpus will amuse and entertain readers for a few hours.

Every mystery needs a victim of some sort, a sleuth and an array of possible villains. My victim is Mr. Collins, my sleuth is the unjustly neglected Mary Bennet and my possible villains? Well, they were a lot of fun to figure out. Austen's work is teeming with wonderful characters, so many of whom might just fit the bill.

So who did kill Mr. Collins? Here are a few possibilities.

Caroline Bingley — She's a great option for the bad guy. She's the snob we love to hate, and it's not hard to imagine her digging up the meanness required to kill someone she hated enough.

Mr. Wickham — Wouldn't he be the perfect villain? He gets away with so much in Austen's original story, and he needs his comeuppance. He's a cad and a military man, so he would have the ability to off the parson.

Charlotte Lucas — What? Charlotte? Not Charlotte! But she's strong from working in her family's kitchen, and perhaps she suspected Mr. Collins would offer for her if his suit with Lizzy failed. And she'd do anything to avoid that, wouldn't she?

Mr. Bennet — What better way to stop Collins from inheriting Longbourn than to get rid of Mr. Collins? He doesn't seem to be the sort to bestir himself enough to do violence, but perhaps he's just never had this sort of incentive before.

Mrs. Hill — She would be strong from her duties as housekeeper to the Bennets. She seems biddable and unassuming from the little Jane Austen tells us about her, but what secrets are hidden beneath the perfect servant's façade?

Mr. Darcy — He is certainly large enough to best the parson in a fight, and presumably in far better shape. All that horseback riding and fencing, don't you know? And if he suspected Collins had his eye on Lizzy, he might take steps to stop that in the most permanent way, even if he wasn't quite aware of his own feelings. Yet.

Elizabeth Bennet — She has seen Mr. Collins' attentions to her and she finds him ridiculous and repulsive. What if she believed her only escape from having to marry him was to do away with him? She is fit and feisty, and the least likely person is always the culprit, right?

Who do you think killed the clergyman? What other possible villains does Jane Austen have waiting for us in her fabulous cast of characters? I'd love to hear your ideas. But to find out whodunnit, you'll have to read the book!

Here's an excerpt from the first Miss Mary Investigates mystery, Death of a Clergyman.

Excerpt

This was interesting, to be sure. Collins' death ensured that Mrs. Bennet and her daughters would not be removed from their home by some upstart cousin. One of her daughters would surely provide such a child. "Did you tell this to Mrs. Bennet?" Alexander asked.

Mr. Phillips spat out a burst of laughter. "What? Tell this to Fanny? Are you mad? She likely would have stuck a knife in the man himself! No, I merely informed her that there is no one answer to such a question, and that she had better become accustomed to accepting Mr. Collins, for at the time it seemed certain that he — or his son — would eventually inherit. I saw no purpose in telling her of the particulars. She is not always the quickest at comprehending such matters. Still... I wonder if she somehow learned of it."

After a few other questions that provided no new knowledge, the interview was concluded, and Darcy and Alexander made their way back to the street by the assembly rooms. "What do you make of that, Lyons?" Darcy scratched his chin and ran a hand through his hair before replacing his hat. "That bodes rather ill for Bennet, does it not?"

"Indeed, assuming the man knew the terms of the entail. He feigned suitable ignorance, but he seems rather too academic a man not to have pursued this line of inquiry himself." Alexander tried to picture the situation as he described his thoughts. "He adores Miss Elizabeth and cannot imagine her bound to a man such as you have described Collins to be. Knowing that Collins' death will not only rid his favourite daughter of a useless sort of man, but will also ensure his family's security in their home, he takes steps to dispose of him."

The words did not quite ring true, and Darcy voiced Alexander's own concerns. "Do you really see Bennet rousing himself to such a degree as to abandon his den and ride out across muddy fields to fight a man into submission and plunge his own daughter's knife into the neck, thereupon to return home without any one being the wiser and pretend such shock upon hearing the news?"

Alexander could scarcely imagine Bennet rousing himself to walk to the stables unless it was to greet a messenger with a bag of new reading material.

"No," Alexander concurred, "but it does open the door to the notion that Mr. Collins might have had more than one enemy."

Book Blurb

Mary Bennet has always been the quiet sister, the studious and contemplative middle child in a busy family of five. She is not interested in balls and parties, and is only slightly bothered by the arrival of the distant cousin who will one day inherit her father's estate. But then Mr. Collins is found dead, and Mary's beloved sister Elizabeth is accused of his murder. Mary knows she must learn whatever she can to prove Elizabeth innocent of this most horrible crime, or her sister might be hanged as a murderess!

Alexander Lyons has made a pleasant life for himself in London, far from his home village in Scotland. He investigates missing documents and unfaithful wives, and earns an honest living. Then one day Mr. Darcy walks into his office, begging him to investigate the murder of Mr. Collins and to prove Elizabeth innocent of the crime. It seems like a straightforward enough case, but Alexander did not count on meeting a rather annoying young woman who seems to be in his way at every turn: Mary Bennet.

As the case grows more and more complicated, Mary and Alexander cannot stop arguing, and discover that each brings new insight into the case. But as they get close to some answers, will they survive the plans of an evildoer in the midst of quiet Meryton?

Book Links

Amazon  |  Kindle

Author Bio

Riana Everly was born in South Africa, but has called Canada home since she was eight years old. She has a Master's degree in Medieval Studies and is trained as a classical musician, specialising in Baroque and early Classical music. She first encountered Jane Austen when her father handed her a copy of Emma at age 11, and has never looked back.

Riana now lives in Toronto with her family. When she is not writing, she can often be found playing string quartets with friends, biking around the beautiful province of Ontario with her husband, trying to improve her photography, thinking about what to make for dinner, and, of course, reading!

Author Links

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Giveaway

Thank you for visiting my blog for the fifth time and sharing some insight about your new release, Riana. The excerpt is enthralling to read as Darcy and Lyons deliberate on who could be Mr Collins's murderer. All the very best in your blog tour and hopefully Austenesque readers will love it.

Would you like to receive a free e-book of Death of a Clergyman, dear readers? Now is the perfect time as Riana is generously sponsoring a Kindle version through Amazon. Just leave a comment by Thursday, 8 October 2020 and include your email address in parentheses (e.g. example(at)domain(dot)com) to be counted in the giveaway. This is because the author will select and contact the winner directly.