In Which Magic Runs on Manners
The Middling Kingdom of Chiddingtonia is a cozy, second-rate realm wedged between two empires. Its national motto is "This Will Do." All of its magic is powered by sincerity: spells work better when you mean them, rudeness generates toxic pollution, and a well-crafted letter of complaint is a controlled substance. Royal Inquisitor Reginald Blundell has the longest active career in the Inquisitorial Office, and has never solved anything. Warden-Sergeant Priya Okafor, the brilliant Citadel-trained battle-mage assigned to him, has been solving his cases for three years, and falling in love with him against her will, her training, and her better judgment.
Each book is a standalone cozy mystery. Through all of them runs a quieter threat: a man who has mastered the form of propriety while emptying it of all content, and who would like all magic brought under proper bureaucratic oversight.
The books
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1
The Impeccable Inquisitor Blundell · January 15, 2027
The beloved owner of Chiddington's only tearoom is found dead in her locked kitchen, face-down in a Victoria sponge that is still floating. Blundell declares it a shark attack. The nearest ocean is two hundred miles away; he considers this evidence of extraordinary criminal planning. A locked-room mystery, a theft of living enchantments, and the alarming discovery that love is not a filing problem. About the book →
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2
The Impeccable Inquisitor and the Phantom of the Fête · spring 2027
A ghostly saboteur is haunting the Midsummer Fête, the kingdom's load-bearing ceremony. The Chiddington Gazette coined the name. Blundell believes the Phantom is a spectral entity with strong opinions about Tuesdays. He is wrong, but not in the way anyone expects. No death and no locked room this time: the Rite itself is failing, and the question is whether a celebration that no one genuinely celebrates is still a celebration, or merely a procedure wearing a party hat. The scones are cursed. The cobblestones have opinions.
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3
The Impeccable Inquisitor and the Citadel Affair · summer 2027
A scandal at the Citadel, the kingdom's most prestigious magical academy and the place that made Priya who she is. She goes back to it as an investigator, and finds that the system she was first in her class at is not quite what she was taught it was.
Two more books are planned after these. The correct number of moustaches remains one.
Shelf neighbours
Legends & Lattes meets Hot Fuzz, with the romantic tension of Pride and Prejudice. For readers of Travis Baldree, T.J. Klune, Susanna Clarke, Terry Pratchett, and T. Kingfisher: funny on the surface, sincere underneath, never cynical.
Letters from Chiddingtonia
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