Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna
by Maia Chance

From the author of Cinderella Six Feet Under, a
beauty must solve a beastly murder.

Variety hall actress Ophelia Flax knows how to win over an
audience. That’s why she’s accepted the marriage
proposal of the brutish Comte de Griffe to nettle her
occasional investigative partner—and romantic sparring
partner—the pompous if dashing Professor Penrose.

But with his boorish table manners, wild mane of hair, and
habit of prowling away the wee hours, the comte has shredded
Ophelia’s last nerve. She intends to disengage from
her feral fiancé at his winter hunting
party—until Penrose, his lovely new fiancée,
and a stagecoach of stranded travelers arrive at the
comte’s sprawling château. Soon she can’t tell
the boars from the bores.

When one of the guests is found clawed and bloody in the
orangerie, Ophelia is determined to solve the murder before
everyone starts believing the local version of Beauty and
the Beast. But until the snows melt, she can’t
trust her eyes—or her heart—since even the most
civilized people hold beastly secrets…

Other Books by Maia Chance

Naughty on Ice
Discreet Retrieval Agency Mystery Book 4

Bad Neighbors
An Agnes and Effie Mystery Book 2

Cinderella Six Feet Under
A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery #2

Snow White Red-Handed
A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery #1

Maia Chance's Bio

Maia Chance writes historical mystery novels that are rife with absurd predicaments and romantic adventure. She is the author of the Fairy Tale Fatal and The Discreet Retrieval Agency series, and her first mystery, Snow White Red-Handed, will be released in November 2014 by Berkley Prime Crime.

Maia is a candidate for the Ph.D. in English at the University of Washington. This means that the exploits of Fairy Tale Fatal’s heroine, variety hall actress Ophelia Flax, were dreamt up while Maia was purportedly researching 19th-century American literature and fairy tale criticism. The Discreet Retrieval Agency series was born of Maia’s fascination with vintage shoes, automobiles, and cocktails combined with an adoration of P. G. Wodehouse and chocolate.

Upcoming titles include Come Hell or Highball (St. Martin’s Press, 2015) and Cinderella Six Feet Under (Berkley Prime Crime, 2015). Maia lives in Seattle, where she shakes a killer martini, grows a mean radish, and bakes mocha bundts to die for.