🔖 BLOG TOUR 🔖 Deadly Curious by Cindy Anstey {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}

Deadly Curious by Cindy Anstey

Release Date: June 23rd 2020 by Swoon Reads

Pages: 352

Genres: Historical Romance, Young Adult

1834. Sophia Thompson wants nothing more than to be one of the famed Bow Street Runners, London's most elite corps of detectives. Never mind that a woman has never before joined their ranks--and certainly never mind that her reclusive family has forbidden her from pursuing such an unladylike goal.

She gets the chance to prove her capabilities when an urgent letter arrives from her frantic cousin Daphne, begging Sophia to come look into the suspicious death of Daphne's brother.

As Sophia begins to unravel the tangled threads of the case--with the help of a charming young policeman--she soon realizes that the murderer may be even closer to her family than she ever suspected.

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{EXCERPT}

Striding back and forth across the hall, Sophia tried to devise a conversation that would lead to the subject of Andrew’s murder and the concerns Daphne had mentioned in her letters. She spun at the sound of an approach above her and watched as Daphne skipped down the stairs, skirts in hand.

Near the bottom, Daphne’s step hitched, and she pitched forward. Without a thought, Sophia rushed to the stairs, catching her cousin as she crashed into the handrail. They landed together in an ungainly heap on the floor, thoroughly mussed but unhurt.

“Are you all right?” Sophia asked, her heart pounding.

Daphne gasped for air; a hand pressed to her bodice. “I think I tripped,” she said needlessly, clambering to her feet and straightening her gown.

Sophia did the same, tugging the bows at her elbows into place. “I have not known you to be clumsy before.”

Daphne’s hand paused halfway across her skirt. “It wasn’t me. I tripped over something.” She turned to look up the stairs.

Just above her, the culprit lay on its side, its head hung over the tread. “There. See, it wasn’t my fault. I tripped over a toy horse.”

Sophia frowned and then leaned closer, slowly reaching to pick up the toy. “Seems a strange place for this. You could have had a bad fall. Broken a limb or cracked your head.”

“True, absolutely true.” Daphne stared at the thing, taking it from Sophia and slowly turning it over, as if mesmerized by it. “It should be in the nursery . . . Someone could have been seriously hurt if they tripped and didn’t have a cousin to catch them.” Daphne’s complexion became ruddy and her breathing shallow.


“Nothing worthy of concern,” Sophia said quickly. “I’ll mention it to your housekeeper, Mrs. Curtis.”


“Come to think about it, the nursery was cleared out years ago. This must have come from the attic. Why is it on the stairs?” Daphne’s tone was suddenly high and squeaky. “Someone put this toy here deliberately. Only the family uses these stairs. Someone tried to cause an accident!”

Sophia stepped to her cousin’s side, taking her arm, and propelled her toward the door. “Shh,” she murmured. “There is an explanation—a nonlethal explanation. We just need to ferret it out.”

Daphne pulled Sophia to a stop. “Someone just tried to kill me.”

AUTHOR BIO:

Whenever she is not sitting at the computer, throwing a ball in the backyard, gardening or reading, Cindy can be found–actually, not found–adventuring around the world with her hubby.

She has lived on three continents, had a monkey in her yard and a scorpion under her sink, dwelt among castles and canals, enjoyed the jazz of Beale St and attempted to speak French.

Cindy loves history, mystery and… a chocolate Labrador called Chester.

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