The Edgecombe Park Mysteries

• Murder at the Cream Tea

• A Fête Worse Than Death

• Mince Pies and Mortal Lies

Rapid Release Trio · Cozy Mystery · Clean / closed door · 3 books · 82K each · 1st person

Complete three-book planning package, 489 pages: three premises, three codices, every chapter of all three books outlined and prompted, a launch kit for each book, plus the series bible, rapid-release launch plan and box-set strategy — already written. One buyer only. When it’s claimed, it’s gone.

Some manor houses keep their secrets politely. Edgecombe Park is not that kind of manor house.

Kelsey Dombrowski spent twelve years as a food historian and knows how to read a provenance — what something is, what it's been called, and what the gap between the two usually means. She comes to Much Hadlow, Gloucestershire on a one-year contract to open the tearoom in the west wing of Edgecombe Park estate. She is organized, practical, and completely unprepared for the rate at which bodies turn up on the property.

Lady Gillian Ashworth has run the estate since her husband died and her nephew Jeremy started showing up to help. The tearoom was her idea. The murders were not. And the three portraits in the Long Gallery — the ones Jeremy had quietly revalued by an outside consultant three years ago — have been pretending to be something they're not ever since.

Kelsey investigates the way she runs a kitchen: mise en place first, conclusions after the evidence, and never rush the timing. In Murder at the Cream Tea, a spring garden party ends with a body in the walled garden and a guest list full of people who had excellent reasons to be somewhere else. In A Fête Worse Than Death, an autumn provenance dispute at the estate draws an appraiser who knows too much — until he doesn't anymore. In Mince Pies and Mortal Lies, the Christmas event is in two weeks, the antiques valuer who knew what the portraits were really worth has just been found dead at the base of the Long Gallery stairs, and Kelsey has to build the case against the man Lady Gillian taught to fish at age seven before he disappears in time for the holidays.

Three books. Three murders. One portrait fraud that's been running for three years — and a groundskeeper named Rob Seward who knows which mug she uses.

WHY THIS WILL SELL

→ The Village cozy location earns an estimated $88K in monthly Kindle royalties with a Sales vs. Competition Index of 78 — strong entry territory in a trope with deep genre loyalty — and Tea cozy scores a perfect 100 index in the Culinary category, the top-performing sub-trope in its class, making the estate tearoom this trilogy's sharpest category entry point. Book 3 also qualifies for Christmas cozy (index 84, $38K/month) and Holiday cozy (index 81, $42K/month), giving the series high-visibility seasonal shelf space in the October–December window when British-setting cozy readers are most active.

→ A three-book arc villain readers understand on page one: Jeremy Pargeter has been running a portrait fraud scheme for three years when Book 1 opens, and the seeds planted in Books 1 and 2 don't pay off until the Long Gallery confrontation in Book 3. Readers who spot the pattern before Kelsey names it stay for all three — and the ones who didn't see it coming buy the box set to read it again.

→ A sleuth with a real professional edge: a food historian who investigates the way she runs a kitchen — mise en place first, conclusions after the evidence — gives every book a methodical, satisfying solve that feels earned rather than lucky, and a voice specific enough to quote.

→ The complete trilogy is Christmas-positioned without being limited to Christmas: Books 1 and 2 run in spring and autumn with their own seasonal hooks, and Book 3's Christmas finale lands the "now complete" label at exactly the moment when British cozy readers are actively looking for a finished trilogy to binge.

→ Lady Gillian Ashworth is the character readers will recommend the series for: the 72-year-old estate owner who never needs protecting, speaks in fire-register observations, and carries her grief about her nephew in Book 3 without letting the author rush it — the kind of secondary character who makes readers furious at the killer on her behalf.

TROPES

Book 1 — Murder at the Cream Tea

• American Expat Finds Her Footing
• Manor House Mystery
• Tearoom Setting
• First Murder on the Estate
• Lady of the Manor as Unexpected Ally
• The Nephew Who's a Little Too Helpful
• Slow Burn with the Groundskeeper
• Fair-Play Clue Architecture
• Clean
• First Moment of Connection

Book 2 — A Fête Worse Than Death

• Provenance Dispute Goes Wrong
• The Arc Villain Steps Forward
• The Groundskeeper Asks a Question He Doesn't Explain
• Portrait Fraud Confirmed
• Red Herring with Real Secrets
• Columbus Email Arrives
• Stakes Raised for Book 3
• Fair-Play Clue Architecture
• Clean
• Almost

Book 3 — Mince Pies and Mortal Lies

• Christmas Murder at the Estate
• The Three-Book Arc Pays Off
• Lady Gillian's Grief Arc
• The Man She Taught to Fish
• The Whole Town at the Carol Service
• Columbus Email Answered (She Stays)
• HFN in the Epilogue
• "Our Quinces"
• Fair-Play Clue Architecture
• Clean
• Kisses

HEAT LEVEL

Clean throughout — no gore on page, no explicit content; the intimacy is dry wit, specific food, and a groundskeeper who leaves when the thing is said.

Perfect for fans of: M.C. Beaton, Vicki Delany, Rebecca Tope, and Alexander McCall Smith

WHAT'S INSIDE

Per Book (×3):

⭐ Story Premise — high-concept pitch, elevator pitch, and Market-Matched™ validation with dual-category positioning, three-title competitive analysis with differentiation, and full mystery architecture: victim, suspects, red herrings, killer, clue trail, and where each book's murder connects to the three-year portrait fraud — locked before a single chapter is written

⭐ Complete Codex — full story bible per book: first-person sleuth with complete arc and register shift across the trilogy; love interest, victim, and every suspect profiled with motive, alibi, and dialogue style; Lady Gillian's fire-register voice system and arc across all three books; complete supporting cast with example dialogue; settings with full sensory detail including the tearoom, the Long Gallery, the kitchen garden, and the village; chapter-by-chapter timeline with exact dates; fair-play clue table with plant chapter and confirmation chapter for every clue; AI Voice & Writing Guide with four example voice passages; and a full consistency checklist

⭐ Chapter-by-Chapter Outline — every chapter plus epilogue, with scene-level action beats, emotional beat, key dialogue, sensory texture, clue-plant and misdirection notes, ending hooks, and word-count targets throughout

⭐ AI-Ready Chapter Prompts — one fully self-contained prompt per chapter and epilogue, each built for a fresh chat session: complete character context, Kelsey's voice system, the exact clues to plant and what must not be revealed yet, the chapter's emotional register, and an ending-hook line

⭐ Marketing Copy — Amazon listing with categories and 7-keyword strategy, back-cover copy, 50-word short description, newsletter announcement with three subject-line options, Instagram and Facebook posts, reader targeting profile, and a genre-matched Ideogram cover prompt with English village cozy conventions — designed so the three covers read as a matched spring, autumn, and Christmas set

⭐ Market-Matched™ Brief — market snapshot across primary, secondary, and tertiary categories; competitive positioning with comp titles and differentiation statements; a 7-keyword strategy table with rationale for every KDP keyword; and launch positioning including category recommendations, pricing strategy, KU enrollment guidance, and release cadence

Series-Level:

⭐ Series Bible — complete cross-volume continuity document: side-by-side series-at-a-glance table; Jeremy Pargeter's full arc timeline and every planted seed tracked from introduction to payoff chapter; every recurring character across all three books including Bramble, Denis Pitney, and Colin Freer; the master estate timeline; every setting with its fixed sensory and visual details; the romance arc beat by beat; series-wide voice and tone rules; and the established proper-noun registry

⭐ Rapid-Release Launch Plan — publish order and timing; a seasonal release calendar matched to the books' spring, autumn, and Christmas settings; pre-order strategy; pricing pulses across the trilogy including Book 3's Christmas positioning; back-matter cross-promotion updated at every launch; a repeatable launch-week checklist; newsletter sequence; and box-set timing

⭐ Series Page & Box Set Strategy — series positioning and one-line pitch; ready-to-paste Amazon series-page description and reading order; individual shelf-position lines for all three books; complete box set description with "now complete" positioning; box set cover direction; Goodreads series setup; A+ Content module layout; and social and newsletter copy for the box-set launch

⭐ Step-by-Step How-To Guide — full package overview and recommended reading order; the exact chapter-prompt-to-manuscript method; how to brief an AI session using the Codex; what to watch for in AI output that needs revision (Kelsey's voice, Bramble's dignity, Rob's economy of words); a complete revision checklist; formatting and publishing specs; a publishing day checklist; and post-launch maintenance guidance

New to Plot & Prompt? Here’s how a package works →