Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna

Maia Chance

Feb 2016 · A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery Book 3 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

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...

Ratings and reviews

Cute & sassy. That is what both this novel & the main character in it are. I loved the mix of history and fairy tale, mystery and all out hilarity that Chance develops throughout this novel. The well thought out plot kept me on my toes through all of the twists and turns. I was still guessing when all was revealed at the very end. The intricate descriptions bring everything to life in a very fairy tale oriented manner that allowed me to not simply picture it, but to walk through the pages of this novel. Chance does refer to previous novel sin the series for background context on a few things, yet I was able to enjoy this one fully without having read them. It was an absolutely charming novel. The quirky main character in this novel will definitely grab your attention, and your heart. Ophelia was such a mix and a contradiction. Getting to know her was a blast and she definitely did this story justice. And I must say. I absolutely fell in love with Professor Penrose. This quirky academic with a kick is simply fetching. The entire cast was very well developed. There were many I enjoyed getting to know and a couple that I simply didn’t like, creating a well-rounded hunting party that truly demonstrated the variety of personality types out there. This was a cute, funny, and endlessly entertaining take on a well-known fairy tale. This new to me author is definitely going on my ‘authors to watch’ list. Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this work in exchange for an honest review.

Ki

About the author

A finalist for the 2004 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award, Maia Chance is the national bestselling author of the Fairy Tale Fatal mysteries, including Cinderella Six Feet Under and Snow White Red-Handed, as well as the Discreet Retrieval Agency mystery series. A Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington, she is writing her dissertation on ninenteenth-century American Literature.