Zia Bellamy
Murder, mystery, and a very opinionated cat.
Victorian Cozy Mystery · Light Paranormal · Slow-Burn Romance
Welcome — do come in.
There's a shop on Bellrose Lane where the kettle is always warm, the cat is always unimpressed, and the dead don't always stay quiet. I'm so glad you found your way to it.
Whether you came for a clever murder, a slow-burn romance that refuses to be hurried, a grandmother who won't let a little thing like death end the conversation, or simply a strong cup of tea and a comfortable chair — you're in the right place. Have a wander. The tarot's been shuffled, and somewhere down the lane, someone has almost certainly just been murdered.
Pull up a chair. I'll put the kettle on.— Zia
Victorian Cozy Mystery · Light Paranormal · Slow-Burn Romance
About Zia
For readers of Deanna Raybourn, Amanda Quick, and Tasha Alexander.
Zia Bellamy writes the Tarot & Tea Leaves Mysteries — a Victorian cozy mystery series set in 1850s London, where a sharp-witted herbalist, a too-perceptive inspector, and a sixteen-pound orange tabby named Marmalade solve crimes that Scotland Yard would rather they left alone.
Her books are filled with the things she loves most: cobblestoned streets slick with rain, apothecary shelves lined with glass jars, friendships forged over strong tea and stronger opinions, slow-burn tension that builds across the entire series, and a ghost who absolutely refuses to stop meddling.
New readers can begin with any book. Longtime readers know to watch the cat.
A Word from Marmalade
Head of Security · Hawthorne & Wetherly
You're still here. Good. It means you have taste — distressingly rare among bipeds.
My human writes the books. I supervise. I sleep in the drawer where the cards are kept, I approve or reject every visitor by their footfall, and I maintain standards. Exhausting work. Someone must.
Should you wish to support her — and you should; she forgets my supper entirely when there's a murder afoot — you might acquire her books here at this very shop (she keeps more of the round shiny things that way, and the round shiny things become kippers), have the stories read aloud to you as is civilized, or obtain a drinking-vessel bearing my likeness, which I do not understand but which pleases her enormously. Buy wherever you please, truly — we're only glad you came down the lane.
Now, if you'll excuse me. My kippers are late, and standards do not maintain themselves.— Marmalade
Bloomsbury, London · 1856
The World of Tarot & Tea Leaves
A shop. A ghost. A cat with opinions. And a murderer who thinks they've gotten away with it.
Clara Wetherly
The Queen of Swords
Herbalist, reluctant sleuth, and keeper of the shop her grandmother built — where the tarot cards have a habit of rearranging themselves when Genevieve has something to say.
Inspector Graham Redgrave
The King of Swords
Scotland Yard's most skeptical detective — tall, observant, third son of an earl, and carrying secrets beneath that black greatcoat with the silver buttons.
Marmalade
The Familiar
Clara's sixteen-pound orange tabby, who has opinions about every suspect, every constable, and every kipper in the shop. Readers will tell you he's the real detective. He would not disagree.
Genevieve Hawthorne
The High Priestess
She saved lives with foxglove, faced down earls, and now orchestrates everything from beyond the grave — through cold drafts, lavender on the air, and suspiciously reshuffled tarot cards.
The dead, unfortunately, have other ideas."
Bloomsbury's Worst-Kept Secret
The Ladies of Bloomsbury
They take tea on Thursdays in Mrs. Penfield's drawing room. They also run the most effective intelligence network in London — and not one gentleman suspects a thing.
Widow of the parish. Hostess of the Thursday teas. Steel-gray curls and a purple-ribboned bonnet.
What she actually doesRingleader. A fixture of the parish for decades, she knows everyone worth knowing, and her drawing room is the war room — where every clue in Bloomsbury ends up pinned to the wall. Carries her umbrella like a weapon. Do not underestimate her.
Dressmaker to half of Bloomsbury.
What she actually doesNothing is fitted, hemmed, or confided in a changing room without reaching her ears. A lady will tell her dressmaker what she'd never tell her husband.
Registry Office clerk — and, lately, a published novelist.
What she actually doesEvery birth, death, marriage, and certificate in London passes beneath her wire-rimmed spectacles. She remembers all of them.
A physician's widow of impeccable manners.
What she actually doesHer late husband's medical connections open the doors — and the post-mortem notes — that Scotland Yard cannot.
Aunt, grandmother, and devoted neighbor.
What she actually doesJoined the circle over the Thorne family's troubles and never left. Aunts, it turns out, notice everything.
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