Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.

This was a fun romance novel, and I enjoyed it a lot. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

Beatrice Steele heads to London in hopes of solidifying her reputation as an investigator, after helping to solve a mystery in her hometown. She goes into business with Inspector Drake, but the reception to their partnership is lukewarm and they are not getting many cases. Of course, her family is unaware that she is continuing her 'terrible hobby' of investigation, as they sent her to London with her chaperone Ms. Bolton, to be presented during the season and find a husband.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, "A Most Agreeable Murder," so was anxious to read this book. Unfortunately, it did not grab me in the same way. I enjoyed the letters from Beatrice's mother and the progressively ridiculous occurrences throughout the book, but it wasn't up to that first book's standard. I did fid it to be entertaining and liked the humor injected throughout. If you liked the first book I would recommend reading this one, and I will certainly read another installment in the series, if there is one, with high hopes.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am totally loving this Beatrice Steele cozy mystery series. Bridgerton meets Sherlock Holmes and it equates to a super fun read.

This quick read is engaging, entertaining, full of mystery and suspense, a little romance, and some fun characters. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for sending me an advanced copy of this book.

I devoured this second adventure in the madcap mystery and slow burn romance Beatrice Steele series in a day! Seales has created an addictive soup of quirky characters, comedic quips, twisty mystery and delicious romantic tension. If you love the books of India Holton, Alison Goodman or Gail Carriger - this series is for you!

Beatrice Steele and Inspector Vivek Drake have now teamed up together in London to open their agency DS Investigations when a local actor is accused of murder and hires them to clear his name. Beatrice is also half-heartedly attempting her first season on the marriage mart in order to marry wealthy and save her crumbling family home along with her playwright spinster chaperone, Miss Bolton. Luckily for Beatrice, a case comes along to distract her! That and the infamous Detective Huxley - can you say love triangle? She and Drake are drawn into a world of society balls, secret societies, persecuted artists and multiple murders. It's a page-turning adventure you won't soon forget!

With a romance heating up, a super villain awoken and all the hints that her little sister Mary is a... werewolf?? I can't WAIT for the next book! What will Seales possibly think of next?! And why am I the only one concerned about Mary?

There's nothing terrible or nasty about the fabulous second book in the Beatrice Steele series! A Terribly Nasty Business by Julia Seales is a great follow up to the first book as Seales transplants her characters to the city of London. With a serious country-mouse in the big city vibe, we are along for the ride as Beatrice and her professional partner Drake are hired by an opera performer who is the main suspect in the killings of members society's upper crust.
The plot is twisty and fast paced, the characters fun and relatable, and the historical setting of London, England is as eye-opening as it is fascinating. Underneath it all is subtle commentary on the status of women in society, the tension between classes, and attitudes towards artists and their standing in the world.
You can't go wrong with this book! #ATerriblyNastyBusiness is highly entertaining, and I thank #NetGalley and #RandomHouse for the advanced readers' copy.

✨ ARC Review ✨
A Terribly Nasty Business by Julia Seales

4 ⭐️

A well-rounded regency-era cozy mystery! I enjoyed the first book, A Most Agreeable Murder (satirical murder mystery), and was pleased with book two as well! The story itself is quite charming, filled with wit, charm, and banter, and easy to get through in an afternoon!

While A Terribly Nasty Business still follows the adventures of Inspectors Beatrice Steele and Vivek Drake, I found this one to be less satirical than the first and consequently less humorous. However, I still loved the murder mystery aspect with regency era “rules”. I definitely found myself liking this one more than book two, with the added intrigue of London vs Swampshire and the budding will-they won’t-they romance between Beatrice and Drake!

I’m definitely invested in the series, and will eagerly await book three now!

Thank you to @juliamaeseales, @netgalley, and @atrandombooks for the ARC!

A fun time and easy read! I would definitely recommend this book as a palate cleanser after reading a heavy themed book.

This was an absolute delight! I love the characters and the setting so much. it’s been a while since i read A Most Agreeable Murder, but I do think the mystery was less predictable in that one. I guessed the murderer sooo early on, although there were a few other twists i didn’t see coming. overall, i had a great time and i would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the first one!

This book was really fun! Beatrice was honestly super relateable and following along with her was so fun. Girl just wants to solve crimes! I love a regency book with threads of mystery and a badass heroine and this was so well done!

I enjoyed my time with this! To be honest, while I did read the first book, it was almost two years ago now when I re-entered the bookish realm. I’ve read a lot since then, and I probably should have done a re-read. There were some things that were brought up from the first book that I didn’t remember which dampened my enjoyment just a bit.

That aside, I loved seeing Beatrice and Drake working together and learning more about Drake’s relationship with Sir Huxley and how their fallout came to be. Each of them had me giggling at multiple parts.. I missed Beatrice’s witty remarks. I very much loved the articles interspersed throughout the novel. They also were full of humor or provided more insight into the story. I saw them as a fun way to “show, not tell”. I didn’t miss the nod to the 2005 “Pride and Prejudice” movie towards the end with the “poetry is the food of love” line and the “obstinate, headstrong girl” in the Acknowledgements. With this novel and its predecessor, I find that I have gone into them with the intent of actively trying to deduce the twists and turns and the “whodunnit”, but ended up emptying my head of all clues and foreshadowing and just enjoying the ride. It made every twist or reveal, with the exception of the romance angles, hit harder I think. I was not really expecting the end at all.

Speaking of the romance, I will admit that when the first hints between Drake and Beatrice were being dropped, I rolled my eyes and said “Oh no, is this all this is going to be now?” I am glad that it was not. I think there was a nice balance between the romance and the mystery. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next installment!

Thank you very much for providing me with the opportunity to read this early in exchange for my honest thoughts. As a note, I am sending this review now via NetGalley, but I will not post this review elsewhere until closer to the publication date.

While this book lacked in frogs like the first book, it made up for it with flying squirrels!

This was another fun instalment in the Beatrice Steele series - following Inspectors Vivek Drake and Beatrice Steele while they try to solve a series of murders during Beatrice’s first season in London. This had the same quirkiness and lightheartedness as the first book, while seeing Beatrice become more confident in herself and her ability to solve crime.

The storytelling is slightly unconventional (but not unique to this book) - with a third person narrative focusing on Beatrice, interspersed with letters between random characters and newspaper articles. When done correctly, this is such a great way to tell a story - I really liked this (although I have read books in this style that I loved).

As someone who predominantly reads in the romance genre and splits off to read the occasional mystery/historical/literary fiction piece - I was so excited to see the beginnings of a romantic relationship between Drake and Beatrice ❤️. That man was pining for her and I was here for it! I’m very much looking forward to seeing how that relationship progresses in book three (which has not been announced, but I’m just assuming it’ll be coming!)

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for sending me an ARC of this one!

This was a fun follow-up to the first Beatrice Steele novel. While I think the mystery was better in this one, it felt something was missing. I attribute this to change of location and lots of new characters. I liked them (particularly Elle and Lavinia) and I think this will be solved in future books when the characters and relationships have grown. I will definitely continue with the series.

I loved the first book in this series and this one is just as fabulous! These characters are so wonderful, just hilarious and headstrong and I am absolutely here for it. Can't wait for more!

What a fun and suspenseful sequel! I mistakenly started this book first and had to go back to book one and fell immediately in love with the characters. Obstinate, headstrong female characters are my absolute favorite and Beatrice fits this precisely. From the strong disapproval of the French, to flying squirrels and ribbon choices mixed with murder cases this book is hilarious and perfect. I look forward to more books in this series!

"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."

Can they also investigate the flying squirrel infestation? I really want that investigated.

I really enjoyed this follow up to the Most Agreeable Murder. Full of humor, good characters, and a fun mystery that manages to satirize regency England in the most fun way.

A fun little mystery sequel! The main character is so entertaining and I loved the partner relationship and detective agency aspect in this one!

Out of the squelch holes and into the flying squirrels! Beatrice Steele has relocated from Swampshire to London where the etiquette is stricter and the crimes are many in this hilarious follow-up to A Most Agreeable Murder.

I love the unique charm and oddities of Seales’s Regency-inspired England; she perfectly captures its essence while turning its restrictive class rules on their head. She eloquently engages the reader in a fun murder mystery, while conveying important messaging about the role of art and culture in society and the dangers of censorship. It’s an impressive balance of pacing, prose, and plot!

Beatrice Steele continues to be a heroine worth rooting for, unwilling to conforming and daring to pursue her passions. All of the side characters dazzle, especially Miss Bolton, and the tension between Beatrice and Inspector Drake did not disappoint!

This sequel had all the wit, mystery, and charm found in the first novel. The ending perfectly set up the story for a third book, and I’m eager to see what unfolds for our detective duo next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is SO much fun and exactly my sense of humor. It's charming, kind of offbeat and weird, and full of adventure and delightful characters. I laughed out loud multiple times in the first couple of chapters and kept on guffawing throughout the book. The book does contain some spoilers for the first book in the series, so I would definitely recommend reading in order. But please don't miss your opportunity to read this one!

Dare I say that I enjoyed this even more than the first?
When I first read A Murder Most Agreeable, I wasn't prepared for the heavy satire and humor. That made it a bit jarring and harder for me to get into initially. Going into A Terribly Nasty Business I was more than ready to get back to this extremely fun tone and the world full of shenanigans.
I think this sequel benefits from the cast of characters being less attached to Beatrice than in the previous installment. There were still plenty of characters, but it didn't feel like we needed to learn quite so much about them.
This book brought all the fun of the first, with a new setting and new challenges facing our heroine. I still love the way the genres are mixed and changed. It's a regency romance, but there's a flying squirrel infestation. It's a murder mystery, but Figaro is a franchise with sequels like "Here We Figaro Again". Yet under all the silliness it has a fantastic message about the importance of art and artists, and the dangers of censorship.
The end left off at a point that has me begging for book three. I'm not usually a fan of murder mysteries, but the Beatrice Steele series has my heart.