An Execution, an Earl, and Miss Hughes

Regency Murder & Marriage #5

by Claudia Stone

Miss Sarah Hughes has long accepted her fate as the dustiest spinster on the shelf in Plumpton—until a local landowner is found dead, and suspicion falls on her father.



Determined to protect her family, Sarah is drawn into village gossip, family secrets, and one extremely inconvenient a fake courtship with the Earl of Ashford.



Lord Lucian Deverell never intended to fall in love again.



But when a fiercely clever farmer’s daughter rescues him from a matchmaking ambush, he offers his help in her investigation—and finds himself unexpectedly smitten.



Between confusing clues, flaring tempers, and the well-meaning meddling of Mrs Mifford, Sarah and Lucian must uncover the truth. And Lucian must also convince Sarah that his courtship is no longer fake—but very much in earnest and he wants her as his bride.



This delightful cozy mystery Regency romance is part of a series but can be read as a standalone.

Genres: Mystery, Romance, Historical Fiction

175 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 20, 2025

About the author

Claudia Stone was born in South Africa but moved to Plymouth as a young girl. Having trained as an actress at RADA, she moved to New York to pursue her dream of acting on Broadway in 1988. She never did see her name in lights, but she did meet a wonderful Irishman called Conal who whisked her away to the wilds of Kerry, where she has lived ever since.
Claudia and Conal have three children, a dairy farm and a boisterous, black lab called Buddy. When she has any time left over, Claudia enjoys reading Regency as well as writing it.

You can also connect with Claudia on Facebook:

fb.me/ClaudiaStoneAuthor

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder leads to Marriage again.

After running out of Midford Daughters, best friend Sarah Hughes ends up with her Father accused of the next village murder. Fortunately there's a Earl visiting and the entire Clan to help. Very nice continuation of the series with a couple more potential ladies available for future murders.

[Shirley Hamlod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good final murder mystery in this series. This time Sarah teams up with an Earl to solve two deaths. Mrs Mifford finally comes into her own as the Earl asks for her help to court Sarah! The clues they have to solve the deaths keep coming but they struggle to alight on the murderer. An interesting plot.

[Clara Berge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and entertaining read.

I enjoy Claudia Stone’s books. They have quirky characters and the flow of the story pulls you along pleasantly. Thank you for a relaxing light hearted read!

[Barbara Sachs · Rating 4 out of 5]

One star off for editing

But I still love this series, the characters and the plots. If I hadn't retired from editing, I'd offer my services. Stone tells a good story.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank goodness, Claudia Stone is writing again! I was sitting in a doctor's office, grinning as I read. A nurse kept walking past, attending to other patients in the waiting room. Finally, she asked what I was reading that had me grinning and laughing. I told her about Ms. Stone, who had such a wry sense of humor and had a remarkable way of highlighting the foibles of everyday folks, especially Mrs. Mifford, buffoon extraordinaire.

The Miffords have returned to print, with Mrs. Mifford trying to marry off her niece, Charlotte. However, the Sixth Earl of Ashford, Lucian Alastair Deverell, is not interested. He is interested in Miss Sarah Hughes, a nobody in Plumpton. The new landowner who threatens to divert water from his neighbors is soon killed, and Susan's father is suspected because he had just threatened the man before he was shot. Lucian joins Sarah to find the real killer.

I gave this jolly who-done-it five stars because of all the laughs I got from the story—one case in point. Mr. Marrowbone, the constantly drinking village constable, is found in bed with his neighbor. Mr. Marrowbone says he was confused, but Sarah believes he was too drunk to walk further on to his own home. Who could think of such a crazy event? The most delightful part of the book was the end, where the author mentioned that she was working on the next installment of this series. Brava!

Regency Murder and Marriage 
1. A Death, A Duke, And Miss Mifford (2020) 
2. A Victim, A Viscount, And Miss Mifford (2021) 
3. A Murder, A Marquess, And Miss Mifford (2021) 
4. A Body, A Baron, and Miss Mifford (2025) 
**  5. An Execution, an Earl, and Miss Hughes(2025) 
6. A Corpse, A Captain, and Miss Bridges

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading a truly awful MM thriller yesterday, I needed a bit of a palette cleanser and I do enjoy these stories. They're light and fluffy cozy mysteries with a smidgen of peril and a dash of romance. The village of Plumpton is strangely full of aristocrats and other landed gentry, but I love all the characters that live in there from Mrs Mifford with her busybody matchmaking tendencies, her long suffering vicar husband to the lazy constable and the village tabbies. I'm pretty sure this series has been based on Pride and Prejudice, but with murder. Now all the Mifford sisters are married off we are moving onto the other 'spinsters of the parish' with Miss Hughes, a great friend of the Miffords, who enlists the help of a visiting Earl to clear her father of murder. I just wish the author would get a better proof reader as the book was riddled with mistakes that should easily have been caught. 3.75*

[LG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok I caved

In case you've been following my saga, you'll know that I loved the first book so much that I struck around especially when books 3 and 4 threatened to undo me.. and then threatened to never finish the series. Well I caved, didn't I? When I saw the chair count of this one I thought "FINALLY, NO MORE FLUFF!". phew, what a relief. The narrative moves around, gets to the point, and doesn't dawdle along the way. It makes a huge difference when your readers don't think you're having them for a laugh. Ok end rant. This book was lovely. A fun little mystery and a sweet love story. I'm back in!

[Heatherinblack · Rating 4 out of 5]

My stars are relative

“The Brothers of Karamazov” (my favorite Russian literature book, I prefer Dostoevsky to Tolstoy) is 5 out of 5 starts. That does not mean this book is one star less. The 4 out of 5 stars I have given means it is an enjoyable mystery (though still not equal to the “Thursday Murder Club”). If I made them all fit the exact same skill most of the cozy murders I read would be 0.25 out of 5. This was a lovely cozy mystery. The killer could have been a lot of people.

[Claudia Stone]

I had so mych fun returning to Plumpton to write Miss Hughes' story!
When her father is accused of murder Lord Deverell gallantly offers to help her investigate and clear his name. Though the earl has more motive than simply the pursuit of justice - he's pursuing Sarah too! I spent a lot of time giggling writing this and I hope you do too :)

[Anaide · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are sweet, cute and packed with humour. I enjoyed spendind time with Sarah and her earl, the mystery was pretty solid and Mrs Mifford was phenomenal both as a comic relief and as a support. I like that things got switched up, because the earl already has a son.

[janet hodgson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun story

Great follow on. Only slightly bothered by the heroine being offered tripe at a fish stall. Tripe would be found at a butcher's as it's the lining of a cows stomach! Big mistake which caused much hilarity. Looking forward to next book.

[Stacey Henning · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many sharpshooters can 1 village have

I enjoyed the murder mystery with lots of suspects. And the romance between Miss Hughes and her Earl was inspired.