Lady Persephone Investigates: a new Christmas cozy mystery!

Lady Persephone Investigates: a new Christmas cozy mystery!

Festive fun in Scotland in this feelgood whodunit featuring a spunky Victorian heroine, her eccentric Aunt Evengeline and a camera that never lies...
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$1,886 🎉
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Booktopia 2024
#Historical
#Mystery
#Cozy
booktopia-2024

This project is part of Booktopia 2024, which runs from September 5th - September 26th 2024. Learn more →

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Mistletoe. Merriment. Mystery.


Are you a fan of Downton Abbey, Murder She Wrote, or Agatha Christie?

Do you love to read stories set in Scotland, with scenic locations and eccentric characters?

Are your favourite heroines witty, independent, and a little awkward?

Is it your goal to solve a murder mystery before the sleuth?

And is Christmas your favourite time of year?

Yes? Then this is the book for you!
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A fatal shooting, a vexing vandal, a Christmas conundrum.
It's December 1892 and at her father's house party in the Scottish Highlands in the days before Christmas, aspiring photographer, Persi (never call her by her real name, Lady Persephone Millicent Merrit) takes a lucky—or perhaps unlucky—photograph just as a rich financier is shot. Accidentally.

Or was it?

When Persi finds evidence that the shooting was intentional, not a tragic misfire, she realises that one of the party assembled in the mansion house must be a killer! And, of course, just as she discovers this, snow starts to fall, which makes everything look very pretty but blocks their access to the village and any help from the local police.

It's up to Persi, her eccentric Aunt Evangeline, and the rather handsome young Lord Glendinning to piece together the clues and identify the murderer before they can kill again, and—more importantly—before they ruin Christmas. Because nothing is more important than a good, old-fashioned Yuletide, with enough mince pies, mistletoe and marzipan to counteract the manslaughter and mayhem.

Can Persi and her friends pull off a Christmas miracle?

Discover the answer in this festive story, the prequel to the Lady Persephone Historical Cozy Mysteries.

Try a sample!


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BACKER INCENTIVES

As a special reward, everyone who backs the project (for at least $5) in week 3 (days 15-21) will receive ebooks of these 2 great mystery novels by two of my author friends:
  • Hour is Come by Victoria Tait
  • Runaway for Christmas by Victoria LK Williams
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FORMATS

Want to know your options for reading the book?

DIGITAL
eBook
Get the eBook months before it's available on retailers, downloadable to any eBook reader.

PRINT
Paperback
Over 230 pages of page-turning mystery in a 5"x8" paperback.

Hardback
This one won't ever be available on retailers: 6"x9", 200+ pages of 100gm coated paper - a deluxe hardback with dust jacket... and any upgrades we unlock in Stretch Goals!


Still not convinced? Try a sample!

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REWARD TIERS

To support the campaign, choose a reward level to support - you'll have the option afterwards to select add-ons, eg if you want an additional copy as a gift.

Tierss are divided into digital (printable and ebooks) and physical (books and other physical items), bundles, and special rewards. 

Digital Tiers:
  • eBook of Partridges, Pear Trees, and Projectiles
  • R.B. Marshall Mystery Pack (9 eBooks, including Partridges, Pear Trees, and Projectiles)

Physical Tiers:
  • Special Backerkit edition paperback
  • Deluxe hardback

Bundles:
  • R.B. Marshall Mystery Pack (9 eBooks, including Partridges, Pear Trees, and Projectiles)
  • Big Roz & pen names Scots Pack (32 eBooks, including 5 that are currently unpublished)

Special Rewards:
  • Signed and numbered #1 hardback
  • Tuckerisation - have a character named after you
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ADD-ONS

After you select a reward level, you'll have the options to select add-ons.

Add an extra eBook or paperback (for you or a friend), or add one of the book bundle packs to enjoy hours of page-turning stories!

Adds-ons are divided into digital (printable and ebooks, and audiobooks) and physical (books and other physical items). 

If you pick a digital reward tier, you can add on digital items, physical tiers can add on any type of extra (digital or physical).

Available add-ons:
  • Additional eBook(s)
  • Additional paperback(s)
  • Additional hardback(s)
  • Mystery Pack (8 eBooks)
  • Big Roz & pen names Scots Pack (32 eBooks, including 5 that are currently unpublished)

Also available: limited edition (numbered) slight seconds from a previous campaign. These are unique books which will not be available on retailers.

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COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENT GOALS, aka STRETCH GOALS

We met our campaign goal, so the books will definitely be produced! 🤩 Along the way, I've set up various achievement goals, to enhance the books and tiers! How? Read on to find out more...

Community Achievement Goals
Here is our current goal:

Goals we've achieved:
  • Coloured chapter heading designs for all versions (print and digital)
  • Custom scene breaks for all versions
  • Colour maps for all versions
  • Custom end papers for the print books



Possible future goals include:
  • Colour title page for the print versions
  • Colour title page added to the eBooks
  • Sprayed edge design for the hardbacks
  • Sprayed edges for the paperbacks
  • Add a ribbon bookmark to the hardback
  • Pretty up the hardback with head and tail bands
  • Colour character art will be added to the print books
  • Colour character art will be added to the eBooks

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SHIPPING COSTS

PLEASE NOTE: Shipping will be added and charged after the campaign ends, when you fill in your Backer Survey.

Here are some indicative tier shipping costs:

Print Books
These will ship from the UK, so UK shipping is included.
UK: free
USA: $5
Europe:
$15
Canada, New Zealand, Australia: $17

Add-Ons
Shipping for individual books purchased as add-ons will be similar to above.

Other international countries

We are currently researching options for international shipping. If you are from a country not mentioned above, please send a message and we will see what can be done.
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📚 Welcome to Booktopia — a celebration of creativity and collaboration from a vibrant collective of writers, authors and artists collectively running crowdfunding projects from September 5th - September 26th.

🔥 Limited Cross-Collaboration Freebies — All 50+ Booktopia creators have paired up with a fellow participant to create two unique and limited freebies together. If BOTH projects successfully fund, backers who support BOTH will get the TWO [2] cross-collab freebies listed on their campaign page, one will ship from each creator. The more pairs of Booktopia creators you support, the more freebies you will earn ✨

🧧 1 FREE Limited Edition Booktopia 2024 reward if you back FIVE [5] or more projects. Exclusive reward for Booktopia - Black Metal Bookmark (*design coming)

🧧 2 FREE eBook novels if you support both this project, Lady Persephone Investigates, and partner project Sherlock Holmes: Crimes for Christmas. Here's the details: 

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

No generative AI was used to create any part of this campaign. 

  • Book cover and image design by the author (Alba Covers) 
  • Book and add-ons written by R.B. Marshall
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An image of the author, and text: For someone who hated history at school, it’s ironic that I've ended up writing historical mysteries. My old history teacher would have been flabbergasted! It was through hubby’s love of castles that I began to enjoy history, and imagining how the decisions of our ancestors impacted their lives and loves. When I'm not writing, I can often be found enjoying the Scottish countryside on horseback, or whizzing down the side of a mountain on skis.
If you believe that this project is not in compliance with BackerKit’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, you can file a report by sending a message via this link: Report this project