A Murder of Convenience by Kathleen Buckley
About Author Kathleen Buckley…
After a career spanning customer service, light bookkeeping, working as a paralegal, and a stint as a security officer, Kathleen Buckley began to write as a second career, rather than as a hobby. Her first historical romance was penned after she wondered if she could do something like Georgette Heyer’s Georgian period romances. Apparently she could, as her twelfth novel was released in 2026.
She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with several cats to whom she talks and is, of course, working on her thirteenth book. Her hobbies are reading (mostly historical fiction and mysteries), testing 18th century recipes (usually baked goods and sweets), playing a simple computer game, and attending an exercise class.
This is a spotlight on “A Murder of Convenience” by Kathleen Buckley
A Murder of Convenience Blurb
Ellen Cuthbert’s husband, Randolph, is now the Earl of Keswick’s heir. Their marriage is a sham, and Randolph’s mistress, Lydia, is present at the house party. When she is found murdered in a locked room, all the evidence seems to point to Ellen. And how could the murderer have escaped the locked room except by witchcraft?
Sir Hugh accompanies his cousin, a magistrate, to the scene of the murder. They investigate, appalled to find their childhood friend Ellen appears to be the chief suspect. Hugh’s lack of prospects years ago prevented their marriage. Now if he cannot find the real murderer, there may be only one final service he can perform for Ellen to spare her a slow death at the end of the hangman’s rope.
What Readers can expect from A Murder of Convenience
I write romantic suspense/mystery set in the mid-1700s. They contain some morally gray characters, crime and skulduggery, and mild bad language. You could hear worse on a middle-school playground. There is always a romance as a subplot that is woven into the mystery but no explicit sex.
Women forced by circumstance to step outside the role allotted to them by the mores of the time, secrets and scandals concealed or known, class conflict, and family conflict with parents attempting to exert control over their adult children are frequent themes in my works.
A Murder of ConveniencePurchase Links
An excerpt from A Murder of Convenience…
Keswick strode to the door and spoke sharply to the footman who hurried away to return in a matter of minutes with two candlesticks holding tapers.
“Hold the candle for me, Hugh.”
Wallace knelt by the heap, which had been a woman. She lay on her left side, swathed in a night rail, its white linen embellished around its low neck and cuffs with white silk embroidery. The cushioned stool lay on its side at her feet. She must have been sitting there, ready to retire, when someone struck at least one hard blow. That much was obvious from the blood matting the side of her head, horribly visible against hair as pale as flax.
“You see the problem, Seaton.”
“Apart from the murder?” his cousin asked.
The earl gave an irritable grunt. “The scandal, man. No one in attendance at this affair is titled but myself, and all but she”—he jerked his chin at the corpse—”and a family of Cits are related to me in some degree. I can control them. The servants are another matter. Threaten as I may, keeping this quiet may be impossible. The best solution I can hope for is that the inquest finds she fainted or had drunk to excess and hit her head on the table.”
This was clearly a suggestion that Seaton should endorse one of these explanations. Hugh managed not to reveal his opinion of such fiddling with facts and legal procedure.
