Thistlewood Manor: Bumped by a Dame (An Eliza Montagu Cozy Mystery—Book 6)

By Fiona Grace

"Very entertaining. I highly recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that appreciates a very well written mystery, with some twists and an intelligent plot. You will not be disappointed. Excellent way to spend a cold weekend!"
--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (regarding Murder in the Manor)

THISTLEWOOD MANOR: BUMPED BY A DAME is Book #6 in a charming 1920s cozy mystery series by Fiona Grace, #1 bestselling author of Murder in the Manor, which has over 300 five star reviews!

For centuries, Thistlewood Manor has stood as home to the Montagu family, a beacon to British aristocracy in rural England. But it’s 1928, and in this new age of women’s rights, Eliza Montagu, 27, a free spirit, has turned her back on her family to live an artist’s life in London.

Yet after Eliza is summoned home, she decides to stay (for now) to help her father run the ailing family business. The presence of her childhood best friend, Oliver, also gives her a reason to stay, as she wonders if their unfulfilled romance might ever come to fruition.

The time has come, it seems, for Oliver to finally propose, and Eliza is ecstatic. Finally, her whole life seems to come into place.

Until Eliza catches Oliver with his ex.

His ex ends up murdered.

And all eyes point to Eliza.

Can Eliza, arrested, clear her name? And with her sisters’ and the servants’ help, find the true killer?

A charming historical cozy mystery series that transports readers back in time, THISTLEWOOD MANOR is mystery at its finest: spellbinding, atmospheric and impossible to put down. A page-turner packed with shocking twists, turns and a mystery that’s hard to solve, it will leave you reading late into the night, all while you fall in love with its unforgettable heroine.

Future books in the series are also available!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fiona Grace
• Release date: Oct 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9781094378398

Book preview

cover.jpg

THISTLEWOOD

MANOR:

BUMPED BY A DAME

(An Eliza Montagu Cozy Mystery—Book Six)

FIONA GRACE

Fiona Grace

Fiona Grace is author of the LACEY DOYLE COZY MYSTERY series, comprising nine books; of the TUSCAN VINEYARD COZY MYSTERY series, comprising seven books; of the DUBIOUS WITCH COZY MYSTERY series, comprising three books; of the BEACHFRONT BAKERY COZY MYSTERY series, comprising six books; of the CATS AND DOGS COZY MYSTERY series, comprising nine books; of the ELIZA MONTAGU COZY MYSTERY series, comprising seven books (and counting); and of the ENDLESS HARBOR ROMANTIC COMEDY series, comprising five books (and counting).

Fiona would love to hear from you, so please visit www.fionagraceauthor.com to receive free ebooks, hear the latest news, and stay in touch.

img1.png

Copyright © 2023 by Fiona Grace. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Alaver, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY FIONA GRACE

ENDLESS HARBOR ROMANTIC COMEDY

ALWAYS, WITH YOU (Book #1)

ALWAYS, FOREVER (Book #2)

ALWAYS, PLUS ONE (Book #3)

ALWAYS, TOGETHER (Book #4)

ALWAYS, LIKE THIS (Book #5)

ELIZA MONTAGU COZY MYSTERY

MURDER AT THE HEDGEROW (Book #1)

A DALLOP OF DEATH (Book #2)

CALAMITY AT THE BALL (Book #3)

A SPEAKEASY DEMISE (Book #4)

A FLAPPER FATALITY (Book #5)

BUMPED BY A DAME (Book #6)

A DOLL’S DEBACLE (Book #7)

LACEY DOYLE COZY MYSTERY

MURDER IN THE MANOR (Book#1)

DEATH AND A DOG (Book #2)

CRIME IN THE CAFE (Book #3)

VEXED ON A VISIT (Book #4)

KILLED WITH A KISS (Book #5)

PERISHED BY A PAINTING (Book #6)

SILENCED BY A SPELL (Book #7)

FRAMED BY A FORGERY (Book #8)

CATASTROPHE IN A CLOISTER (Book #9)

TUSCAN VINEYARD COZY MYSTERY

AGED FOR MURDER (Book #1)

AGED FOR DEATH (Book #2)

AGED FOR MAYHEM (Book #3)

AGED FOR SEDUCTION (Book #4)

AGED FOR VENGEANCE (Book #5)

AGED FOR ACRIMONY (Book #6)

AGED FOR MALICE (Book #7)

DUBIOUS WITCH COZY MYSTERY

SKEPTIC IN SALEM: AN EPISODE OF MURDER (Book #1)

SKEPTIC IN SALEM: AN EPISODE OF CRIME (Book #2)

SKEPTIC IN SALEM: AN EPISODE OF DEATH (Book #3)

BEACHFRONT BAKERY COZY MYSTERY

BEACHFRONT BAKERY: A KILLER CUPCAKE (Book #1)

BEACHFRONT BAKERY: A MURDEROUS MACARON (Book #2)

BEACHFRONT BAKERY: A PERILOUS CAKE POP (Book #3)

BEACHFRONT BAKERY: A DEADLY DANISH (Book #4)

BEACHFRONT BAKERY: A TREACHEROUS TART (Book #5)

BEACHFRONT BAKERY: A CALAMITOUS COOKIE (Book #6)

CATS AND DOGS COZY MYSTERY

A VILLA IN SICILY: OLIVE OIL AND MURDER (Book #1)

A VILLA IN SICILY: FIGS AND A CADAVER (Book #2)

A VILLA IN SICILY: VINO AND DEATH (Book #3)

A VILLA IN SICILY: CAPERS AND CALAMITY (Book #4)

A VILLA IN SICILY: ORANGE GROVES AND VENGEANCE (Book #5)

A VILLA IN SICILY: CANNOLI AND A CASUALTY (Book #6)

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

Be patient, boy, Eliza said to her dog, Scout, who tugged impatiently at the leash she’d tied to a nearby magnolia tree.

It was a beautiful spot. The magnolias were in full bloom, and its full branches provided just the right amount of shade on this warm, spring morning. She’d hoped he’d be willing to settle in there, perhaps curl up and take a nap—and she’d done her best to create the right conditions for that to happen. She’d taken him on a run through the garden that morning, stopping frequently enough so that he could smell anything his little hound heart desired, but also making sure to cover enough ground to get him knackered.

He’d tolerated Eliza’s idea that they take a break for a bit, but he’d tired of that quickly. In Eliza’s defense, this process was taking far longer than she’d expected. If she’d realized it was going to take this long, she would have brought him back inside the house first.

The unexpected slowness of the process was, Eliza suspected, a direct result of her lack of experience with gardening. Growing up, she’d loved being outdoors, and she’d been even keener on any excuse to get dirty, so gardening should have been a natural fit for her. The problem was it was one of her mother’s favorite past times— a fondness Lady Montagu shared with Eliza’s Great Aunt Martha— and since Eliza had historically found time spent with both of them tedious at best and fraught at worst, and since she was inherently resistant to anything she thought might lead them to believe they were successfully domesticating her—she’d allowed gardening to remain firmly in their domain.

The sudden decision to try her hand at it now was a result of Great Aunt Martha’s passing a few weeks prior. Though their relationship had often been strained, just before her death, Great Aunt Martha had called Eliza in and offered her unexpected words of encouragement. For the first time in her life, Great Aunt Martha didn’t balk at Eliza’s moxie. Instead, she confessed to admiring it.

It had come as an absolute shock to Eliza, as had Great Aunt Martha’s rallying cry that Eliza continue in her passionate pursuit of the life she desired instead of just settling for the life that had been planned for her. It had also caused Eliza to suddenly feel overwhelmed with a great deal of fondness for her, and now that she was gone, Eliza found herself wanting to find some way to honor both her and that—which is how she landed here, in the garden, desperately trying to figure out the best way to plant a gardenia bush.

Gardenias had always been Great Aunt Martha’s favorite, but Eliza knew very little about them. She’d asked around and gathered some key information with regards to where to plant it to ensure it got enough sun, and she’d heeded everyone’s advice to water it in, but now, as she stood in the garden alone, she found herself second guessing everything.

How much water was too much water? Exactly how deep should this hole be, really. And did this really count as partial sun, or was it more like partial shade— and what, exactly, constituted the distinction?

She probably should have asked her mother. After all, Lady Montagu was an expert on these sorts of things. But this was something Eliza wanted to do herself. It seemed like the best way to honor Great Aunt Martha. So, despite her reservations, she dug a reasonably deep hole, added what she hoped was sufficient water, and did her best to placate Scout as she placed the little bush in the hole and heaped dirt around it.

We’ll go soon, boy, I promise, she offered as she piled a little more dirt around the bush. It was a bit late in the season to be planting gardenias, but this one already had some beautiful, fragrant blooms on it, and Eliza desperately hoped they would survive the shock of being transferred to their new location.

Satisfied that she’d provided the plant with what she thought was probably enough water and dirt, Eliza stepped back and admired it.

I think Great Aunt Martha would have liked it, Eliza said to no one in particular, though she appreciated Scout’s little woof in response, which she chose to believe was a woof of agreement.

C’mon boy. Let’s go get you something to eat, she said as she bent down to untie Scout from the magnolia tree. She’d left early this morning— so early that she hadn’t gotten breakfast for either of them. She’d told herself she was choosing such an early hour because she wanted to beat the heat, but deep down she knew that wasn’t true. The truth was that she’d left early because she didn’t want anyone to notice.

If they noticed what she was doing, they might have insisted on joining her, and while Eliza was typically open to company, this felt different. She wanted this to be a private moment— just her and Great Aunt Martha. Or, more accurately, her, Great Aunt Martha, and Scout.

As Scout dragged Eliza back towards the entrance to Thistlewood Manor, running top speed, no doubt already fantasizing about the feast that awaited them, Eliza found Great Aunt Martha’s words echoing in her head.

Keep going after the things you want.

The truth was, Eliza would have done that regardless. She’d always been a firm believer that life was far too short to waste even a moment pursuing someone else’s plan for you— no matter the consequences. Eliza remained as she always was, committed to going full force toward the things she was passionate about, but there was something about doing so without the constant threat of Great Aunt Martha’s disapproval that made Eliza feel as though a weight had been lifted— a weight she didn’t even know she was carrying until they had that conversation.

Since Great Aunt Martha’s passing, Eliza had made it a point to start every day by asking herself what she wanted in both her personal and professional life and then making a list of things she could do today to help get her closer toward attaining it. This was the question she was pondering when she opened the door to Thistlewood Manor, an eager Scout at her side, practically itching to pounce into the foyer.

As she opened the door, however, she found herself pondering an entirely different question, however.

Hell’s bells, what on earth is all this hullabaloo about?

At first glance, Eliza had no idea. But she did know that the first thing she wanted to accomplish in her personal life today was finding out what on earth was going on here.

CHAPTER ONE

The foyer was filled with commotion. Servants bounced back and forth with overstuffed trunks, as her mother, Lady Montagu, provided no shortage of direction while Lord Montagu looked on, sighed, and took a puff of his pipe. Her older brothers Melville and Cedric, who were both stationed nearby, followed his lead, taking a puff of their pipes as well.

This hat or that? her younger sister Mercy asked no one in particular as she hurried down the grand spiral staircase and descended onto the marble floor of the foyer.

This hat or that? She asked more pointedly this time, the question suddenly appearing as though it was directed at Eliza.

Blimey, what’s all this about? Eliza replied, confused.

It’s for the horse show, silly! Mercy exclaimed. Don’t tell me you forgot?

She twisted her lips into the slightest pout then before once again holding up the two hats.

For the last time, this hat or that?

Ah, the horse show, Eliza thought as she pointed towards the cerulean turban on the left, sparking a grateful smile and quickly uttered thank you, from Mercy.

In truth, she had forgotten. Eliza had a complicated history with horse shows. As a child, they had been some of her very favorite events of the year. Lady Montagu had firmly believed that the ring was no place for a lady, so Eliza had never been allowed to show any of the family’s horses herself, but she had spent countless hours in the stables, helping prepare the horses for the competition.

Eliza had always dearly loved horses. Most of the people at those shows viewed horses from a very utilitarian perspective, but for that one weekend a year, when they all came together to admire the horses for their strength and speed and beauty, Eliza felt like, maybe, they loved the horses too. It made her heart happy to think of those horses as finally having a well-deserved opportunity to shine.

Plus, sometimes, if she was really lucky, she was able to persuade father to purchase one of the horses she saw at the show. While her childhood was far from a solitary one—after all, she had her siblings, Cedric, Melville, and Mercy, not to mention Oliver, who had seemed to be almost perpetually around from the time she was so young that she literally could not remember a time when he did not exist in her orbit, even though they’d been no more than ordinary childhood friends back then.

As was almost always the case for someone who refused to simply fit into the mold that had been carved out for them, it had sometimes been a rather lonely life. As such, when father agreed to bring a new horse home, it wasn’t like bringing home a pet. It was like bringing home a friend.

Eliza often found that she liked animals better than people if she was being perfectly honest. She certainly understood them better, and honestly, she felt like they understood her more than, say, her mother ever had. So those weekends spent celebrating horses and, occasionally, picking out new friends to bring home had been a highlight of her childhood.

Or, at least, that was the case until Eliza got older and started to truly understand how those shows worked. While certainly there were others like her family who treated the horses well, there were just as many, if not more, who did not. They pushed the horses far too hard, displaying an utter disregard for their physical limits, and those who did not perform to the best of their abilities, or sometimes even simply to the family’s unrealistic expectations, were often severely punished.

Around the time she was fifteen, Eliza had walked in on a groom beating one of the horses after it placed lower than expected in a competition. Eliza had gone to stop him, only to have him ask her on whose authority. As he’d explained then, he not only had a right to punish the horse, he had a duty. This was what was both expected and commanded by the horse’s owner, and, he assured her, there were at least a dozen other stable hands in the barn that day with identical instructions.

That had been the official end of Eliza’s love affair with horse shows. She could simply never look at them the same way again. In fact, each year she had returned, she’d found it harder and harder to stomach. Instead of appreciating the grace of the horse during the dressage competition, or admiring the strength of the horse during the carriage driving competition, or even admiring the beauty of the horse during each show competition, all she could do was worry about what would happen