My name is Harriet Smith and I’m a celebrated lady novelist, virtuoso harpist and heir to a great Irish estate you most definitely will have heard of.
Rule number one: never trust a lady to introduce herself.
All you have to do is casually drop into the conversation that your father went shooting with Captain Merryweather last season, or that you met Lady Cobbleton-Blythe at a dress ball at the Bath Assembly Rooms three weeks ago, and the gullible fools will bow and scrape and then it’s: ‘do have a cup of tea, Miss Smith; do peruse the priceless Shakespeare folios in my library, Miss Smith; do marry my first-born son, Miss Smith, and, while you’re at it, why not take the family silver and our good name with it?’ It’s almost too easy.
I do have Irish connections but, alas, no great estate to speak of. The harp? Well, no, but I am rather accomplished on the pianoforte. I’m not a novelist, either, although I am good at telling stories. Some people would say I’m a con artist. Others would offer a more colourful description of my profession, but nothing fit for public consumption. I am a con artist, I suppose. Or, at least, I was. That’s what father brought me up to be, after mama’s money had run through his fingers like sand through an hourglass. I was father’s protégé; his golden goose. But that’s all over. You see, our last job went a little pear-shaped and now I’m striking out on my own. It’s better this way. Father was holding me back. I don’t need him. I can stand on my own two feet.
Right now, my own two feet happen to be three inches deep in cow dung and my nankeen boots are absolutely ruined. Welcome to the countryside! I must admit, I’m more of a city girl myself. But, for the time being, I’m stuck in the sleepy village of Highbury, digging into the sordid affairs of my neighbours which, so far, have amounted to little more than idle gossip, the odd apple theft and, of course, the secret affair that I’ve been hired to break off. Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax. He is heir to a fortune. She will be thrust into the governess trade if she doesn’t make a good match. My employer, Mrs Churchill (who happens to be Frank’s aunt) is determined that Jane Fairfax does not make a good match – at least not with her nephew. Oh, and she thinks that Jane is trying to kill her. Did I forget to mention that part? I haven’t told Robert, either. He is a novelist or, at least, he aspires to be. In actual fact, he’s a tenant farmer who happens to live in Highbury and is (very reluctantly) aiding my investigations into the apparently-homicidal Jane Fairfax. By the way, my name is not really Harriet Smith. But I expect you’ve already worked that out, haven’t you?
A VERY VEXING MURDER
Series: A Harriet Smith Investigates Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: May 2026
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | William Morrow
Harriet Smith investigates…A murder most Austen.
A witty debut whodunit that reimagines Harriet Smith, the gullible sidekick of Jane Austen’s Emma, as a spitfire con woman, hired to break off an engagement and uncover a murderer in the genteel village of Highbury.
Is a killer lurking in the idyllic country domain of Emma Woodhouse?
No longer Emma’s naïve companion, Harriet Smith is a feisty con-woman-turned-detective tasked with breaking off Frank Churchill’s engagement and uncovering his aunt’s would-be murderer. While Harriet has doubts that the deadly threats are little more than society scandal, the shrewd Mrs. Churchill suspects Frank’s unsuitable fiancée, Jane Fairfax, is out to kill her. What begins as a routine investigation among Highbury’s elite quickly spirals into a web of deception, dangerous secrets, and a game of survival.
As Harriet interrogates a growing list of suspects with the help of her long-suffering best friend, Robert Martin, not only does she have to contend with a potential homicidal maniac and striking out as a single woman in Regency society, but is also afraid her father (and former partner-in-crime) is out for revenge.
With a cast of unforgettable characters—including a charming scoundrel, a lovesick farmer, a ghoulish butler, and a ruthless heiress determined to hide her skeletons at any cost— this brilliantly reimagined mystery featuring the characters from Jane Austen’s Emma is as deliciously dark as it is delightfully clever.
Meet the author
Lucy Andrew is a crime writer and crime fiction scholar who has an unhealthy fixation with Jane Austen. She has a PhD in English Literature from Cardiff University and was a Senior Lecturer in English Literature before leaving academia to concentrate on her writing. Her debut novel, A VERY VEXING MURDER, a cosy crime retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma and the first book in the Harriet Smith Investigates series, is out in the US with William Morrow (HarperCollins) on 12th May 2026. Andrew was shortlisted for the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers’ Prize and was a finalist at Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect. She is a member of the Jane Austen Society and lives in Wolverhampton, UK, with her husband and septuagenarian tortoise. You can find out more about her work at www.lucyandrew.com.