MURDER AT HOLLOWAY MANOR : An Antiquarian Bookshop Cozy Mystery

A locked clifftop study. A stopped ormolu clock. A secret hidden in three-hundred-year-old iron-gall ink.

On the windswept northern coast of Devon, the village of Blackwood Cove seems the ideal refuge for Silas Vance, a former British Museum archivist who traded the humidified manuscript vaults of London for the cedar shelves of The Bramble & Quill Antiquarian Bookshop. Beside a crackling peat stove and in the company of Barnaby, his portly, three-legged ginger tomcat, Silas seeks only quiet days among deckle-edged folios and seventeenth-century bindings.

Across the cobbled lane, Clara Finch reigns over The Copper Kettle Tea Parlour with steaming pots of Earl Grey, fresh warm Devonshire scones, and an unrivaled ear for village intrigue. But the quiet rhythm of Blackwood Cove is shattered when an Atlantic autumn tempest rolls into the Bristol Channel—and the village's most eccentric recluse, Lord Percival Holloway, is found dead in his private study atop Dead Man's Crag.

The heavy oak door was bolted from the inside with a solid iron deadbolt. The mullioned casement windows overlooking the crashing sea were securely latched. Yet across his mahogany bureau, beside a newly inscribed parchment and a cup of cold lapsang souchong, Lord Percival lies poisoned—while upon the mantelpiece, a Louis XVI ormolu clock stands frozen at precisely 11:42 PM.

When the North Devon Constabulary finds itself baffled by an impossible locked room, Silas Vance and Clara Finch are called upon to examine the dead collector's private library. What begins as an inquiry into an uncataloged maritime logbook quickly uncovers a web of high-stakes deception: an estranged nephew evading London gaming debts, a nervous estate solicitor with missing codicils, a family matriarch burning midnight letters, and a ruthless commercial syndicate scheming to exploit the coastal harbor.

Armed with bibliographical erudition, magnifying loupes, and forensic chemistry—from paper watermarks and sympathetic invisible inks to precision clockwork releases—Silas and Clara must decipher the clues before the killer strikes again to bury the truth forever.

Richly atmospheric, intellectually intricate, and filled with warm coastal village charm, Murder at Holloway Manor is the inaugural inquiry in the Bramble & Quill Mystery series.

INCLUDES SPECIAL BONUS FEATURES:
• The Blackwood Cove Sleuth's Field Dossier & Master Clue Matrix
• The Copper Kettle Recipe Book: Clara Finch's Authentic Devonshire Clotted Cream Scones, Spiced Bergamot Tea Cake, and Silas Vance's Late-Night Archivist Blend
• Illustrated Glossary of Antiquarian Bookcraft, Horological Mechanisms, and Paper Ciphers
• Complete Chronological Timeline of the Holloway Manor Inquiry
• The Bramble & Quill Antiquarian Catalog of Rare Folios & Curiosities
• 10-Question Reader's & Book Club Discussion Guide
• Full Audiobook Production & Voice Narration Pacing Guide

TOPICS & SEARCH INDEX:
cozy mystery, antiquarian bookshop mystery, british cozy mysteries, locked room mystery, bookish mystery series, historical amateur sleuth, english village mystery, devon coastal mystery, coastal tea shop mysteries, bibliophile mystery, rare book collector mystery, cat cozy mystery, traditional detective fiction, whodunit puzzle, clockwork locked room, historical puzzle mystery, classic golden age mystery style, book club cozy mystery, s.s. publications mystery, bramble and quill mystery