Occupation: Supreme Feline Ruler of Thistlethorne Lodge
The humans who reside in my English castle, Thistlethorne Lodge, claim I am a cat. This is an insult. I am Mr. Boots—supreme ruler, rodent ranger, and, most importantly, the only truly competent detective in this absurd household.
The day begins, as it should, with my breakfast. Unfortunately, I must first endure the ordeal of waking Polly Pepper, the so-called lady of the house. She was once famous in America—was. After a big hit TV show, some movies, and even a Broadway musical, the public got bored and she retired to this castle, inheriting it from a fan with questionable taste in beneficiaries.
Waking Polly is no simple task. The woman cocoons herself under pillows like a hibernating badger. I have developed an effective method: a well-timed pounce onto her stomach, followed by a leisurely stroll across her ribcage. This produces the required response—a shriek, flailing limbs, and, most importantly, my breakfast.
Once fed, I embark on my morning patrol. The castle is vast, filled with suspicious corners, secret passageways, and enough dust to choke a lesser feline. Today, Polly, her son Tim, and their maid Tiara are rummaging through the attic, convinced they’ll find treasure.
Idiots.
Naturally, I follow. The attic is a wasteland of forgotten relics and at least one judgmental ancestral portrait. Mice scuttle in the rafters—an insult to my authority, but I allow them to live. For now. Tiara, ever amusing to me, taunts Polly with tales of spiders and bats, which is delightful to witness.
Then, fate intervenes. I spy an old wooden chest and claim it immediately by rubbing my whiskers against it. The humans, as usual, miss the significance of my actions and pry open the lid.
Polly gasps. Inside, they find… moth-eaten rags, a few trinkets, and—wait.
A stack of yellowed pages with old fashioned cursive handwriting.
They rush downstairs, clutching their discovery as if they’ve unearthed the Ark of the Covenant. Polly spreads the pages across the coffee table, reading with the kind of dramatic flair that suggests she believes she’s still on television. I observe, tail flicking in superiority.
Then, in a moment of pure genius, I leap onto the table, scattering the pages in a grand display of my feline dominance.
Gasps. Shrieks. Scrambling humans.
And in the chaos—something important is revealed.
Polly picks up a delicate sheet and reads aloud: “The oak that stands alone guards its resting place.”
What fresh nonsense is this? A riddle? A clue? A distraction from my nap?
The humans react as expected—Polly being dramatic, Tim squinting as if that will help him understand it better, and Tiara muttering about having better things to do. They will, of course, take credit for solving whatever mystery unfolds. But we all know the truth. Without me, they’d still be looking for their own shoes.
And then—because humans are nothing if not predictable—a murder occurs. Typical. Now there are two mysteries: one about the mysterious manuscript, and one about the man who was sent to authenticate it and ended up dead. Sloppy work, humans. Sloppy work.
I sigh, curl atop the scattered pages, and close my eyes. They’ll figure it out eventually. Probably. And when they do, I might allow them to reward me with an extra treat.
After all, solving murder mysteries is important.
But snacks are sacred.
Murder and A Missing Manuscript – A Polly Pepper Mystery, Book 7
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: April 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
When American comedy icon and amateur sleuth Polly Pepper stumbles upon a long-lost 19th-century manuscript in her English castle’s attic, she dreams of raking in a fortune. But before she can bask in glory, the manuscript vanishes… a famed antique book expert is murdered… and Polly is thrown into a whirlwind of intrigue.
With whispers of rivalry and revenge rippling through her quaint village of Abbots Clover, Polly must navigate a trail of clues that winds from the ivy-clad library to the shadowy chambers beneath the local church.
Packed with eccentric villagers, razor-sharp humor, and twists that will keep you guessing, Murder and A Missing Manuscript is a delightfully witty and wickedly fun cozy mystery that will leave you laughing and turning pages long into the night!
Meet the author
Richard Tyler Jordan began his career in Hollywood, spending 30 years as a senior publicist at the Walt Disney Studios, where he worked on marketing campaigns for more than 500 feature films. He later turned to writing novels and is the author of the Polly Pepper cozy mystery series, including Murder and a Missing Manuscript, Shadows at Midnight, A Corpse in the Castle and several others. He is also the author of the novels Breakfast at Timothy’s, Overnight Sensation, Strangers in the Night, Gay Blades, and One Night Stand, among others. He also wrote the non-fiction book But Darling, I’m Your Auntie Mame. Jordan is an American expat writer living in a 500-year-old stone cottage in England. For more information about him, visit RichardTylerJordan.com.