A Terribly Nasty Business Audiobook By Julia Seales cover art

A Terribly Nasty Business

A Beatrice Steele Novel

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A Terribly Nasty Business

By: Julia Seales
Narrated by: Fiona Hampton
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About this listen

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • London provides fabulously deadly opportunities for a fledgling inspector in the twisty follow-up to Julia Seales’s bestselling debut, A Most Agreeable Murder, hailed by People as a “delightful cocktail . . . of wit, hilarity, and suspense!”

After achieving her lifelong dream of solving a murder, bringing a killer to justice, and proving she is not, in fact, a morbid creep, Beatrice Steele feels like everything is finally falling into place. She’s traded her etiquette-obsessed community of Swampshire for the big city of London, accompanied by her ever-trusty chaperone, Miss Bolton. They’ve settled in a lovely neighborhood, Sweetbriar, known for its proximity to the Sweet Majestic theater, picturesque pleasure gardens, and an unfortunate infestation of flying squirrels. But Beatrice’s favorite part is that Sweetbriar is also home to DS Investigations, the new office she opened with the prickly, annoyingly logical Inspector Drake to solve the city’s brutally thrilling crimes.

However, nothing is turning out how Beatrice imagined it would. Sir Huxley, famed gentleman inspector and Beatrice’s former crush, is still considered the real investigator in London, so the only cases left for Beatrice and Drake are lost pets and spectacles. Not that Beatrice has much time for crime-solving anyway, as her mother still expects her to find an eligible (rich) husband to protect their family from destitution. Beatrice is struggling to balance all the demands on her and begins to wonder if she can become a true detective in a city that feels full of false promises.

That is until a string of murders thrusts Beatrice and Drake into the center of a scandal that pits the neighborhood’s wealthiest against the arts community, spreading fear and chaos throughout the city. As they follow the trail through bewildering ballrooms, secretive shops, and odd operas, Beatrice must survive threats to her partnership, her business, and her place in society to break the case—before it’s too late.©2025 Julia Seales (P)2025 Random House Audio
Cozy Crime Historical Literature & Fiction Mystery Women Sleuths Murder Exciting England Business

Critic reviews

“Seales follows A Most Agreeable Murder with a jaunty sequel that finds Regency era sleuth Beatrice Steele swapping the provincial environs of Swampshire for London’s hustle and bustle. . . . Seales doesn’t stray too far from what worked in the first book, probing the strict class and gender divides of Regency England while keeping the plot moving at a steady clip. This series deserves a long run.”Publishers Weekly

“The word ‘romp’ was invented for Julia Seales’s books. A Terribly Nasty Business is zany, absurdly charming, and frequently laugh-out-loud funny—having this much fun while reading about murder ought to be criminal.”—Martha Waters, author of the Regency Vows series

“A hilarious, cozy, fast-paced mystery with seriously murderous Bridgerton vibes, it kept me giggling and kicking my feet with glee right to the end.”—Kate Weston, author of You May Now Kill the Bride

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Even better than the first one!!! Loved the story!!! Great humor, mystery and romance! The narrator is excellent with different inflections and accents!!!! I cannot wait for the next!!!!!!!!

Loooooved it!

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I love the characters! I love the egg entendres. The book is smart and funny.

I cannot wait for the next book!

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Loved it! Loved it! LOVED IT!! I have never wished for a book series to become a tv series more!! I liked the first book in this series but it felt rough. There was a lot going on and the characters weren’t really flushed out. BUT the author really hit it on the head in this one!! I love the quirky off kilter, hinting of supernatural and not quite regency era accurate world that has been created here! The footnotes and letters/articles/etc that are in each chapter are wonderful! The sister Mary subplot - superb!! (Can’t wait for that backstory in a future book)

Part of me wishes I had discovered this series after the 5th book so I could binge them all, but alas I will patiently wait until the next one.

The reader is AMAZING!!! Gives every character their own unique voice - which was no small feat considering she had to do many different accents!! Brava!! I hope she continues to voice every book!

Never Wanted it to End

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I loved the character growth and introduction of new characters. This installment got going quicker than the first and was great from start to finish.

Even better than the first

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I so love this series! The narrator does a fantastic job with characters and story telling. My only qualm is that the editing was sometimes choppy? There would be a rough pause in which I had to look and see if it stopped playing but would continue. More of an editing thing rather than narrator or author thing. Outside of that, SO good! A nice mix of light comedy in the midst of a tense mystery.

Love this series!

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I stumbled across the first book in a store a year ago and reread the first one multiple times waiting for this one to come out- trying not to get my expectations to unrealistic heights- and being thoroughly relieved to be proven wrong. This book improves upon the first. We aren’t in a CLUE-esque surroundings but a vivacious Bridgerton-esque world full of characters. We get to see Inspectore Steele come into her own through the influence of other daring women.
Of course, I could always take more of the titular tension with Vivek Drake, but life (and death) seem to be orbiting around these stars at a ridiculous rate and its understandable why we have the scenes we have (trying not to spoil here!)
Anyone who enjoyed the first book will be riveted and enthralled with this second installment. I look forward to as many of these books as we are to get!!!

She Does It Again!

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Narrative is rambling and Ridiculous. writing is not compelling. Did not finish it was so awful.

Stupid

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