Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk

by Travis Baldree

A peculiar detective takes on a monastic murder mystery in a darkly funny fantasy short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legends & Lattes series.

Nobody really liked Brother Gorm, but his untimely and abrupt descent from the abbey’s bell tower has the Order of Venerous the Petulant on edge. Desperate to settle the case before the bishop returns, the abbot enlists the highly unorthodox investigator Miss Gentle. As she clanks through the abbey in a full suit of armor, the cantankerous detective has no problem asking awkward questions—but will she get any answers?

Travis Baldree’s Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk is part of the Magic & Mystery collection, puzzle-box mysteries from top fantasy authors. They can be read or listened to in one enchanting sitting.

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Short Stories, Audiobook, Fiction, Cozy Fantasy, Cozy

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2026

About the author

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Legends & Lattes, Bookshops & Bonedust, and Brigands & Breadknives. Audie-winning. Audiobook narrator. Erstwhile game developer. Made Fate, Torchlight & Rebel Galaxy.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ This was a rather interesting story. Maybe because it was short, the mystery didn’t fully intrigue me as much as it could have, especially when I figured out who had caused the monk to be very flat before it was revealed. Miss Gentle was odd but in a cool way. It was nice that we got a bit of her backstory because I was very confused about her, lol. 😂 The writing and dialogue were fun–it’s probably my favorite part of the story.

All in all, it was an okay read, but entertaining, nonetheless. 💙

₊ ⊹ Thank you to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review! All opinions and statements are my own. ₊ ⊹

──── ୨୧ ────

The Magic & Mystery Collection
#1 The Wednesday Witches Book Club
#3 The Lion's Tusk
#4 A Labyrinth of Honeybees
#5 The Wizard Who Kept Himself Suspicious
#6 Battle of the Round House
#7 The Cairndale Orphan

[Ricarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read Brigands & Breadknives last year I was hoping that Travis Baldree would soon dare to leave his (and my) beloved world of Legends & Lattes. And now he really did, if only in form of a little murder mystery short story. It's set in an abbey where a monk fell out of a tower that's actually impossible to fall out of. A strange case needs a strange investigator and so Miss Gentle arrives at the crime scene, casually wearing armor that's adorned with severed body parts. She sure is a bizarre sight as she clinks and clatters around the abbey looking for clues, but the story still wasn't laugh out loud funny or even super humorous. The investigation wasn't special to me either. All the intrigue came from Miss Gentle alone and while it was cool to learn a thing or two about her, it was hardly enough to fill even such a short amount of pages. I'm overall unimpressed by this story and I don't think that you're missing out on anything here. It was perfectly fine to pass 20 minutes or so, but nothing more. And I must say that the cover is a bit hideous to me too.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Give me silly and quirky characters any day and I will eat it up. This short murder mystery was entertaining and didn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s exactly why I liked it.

─ ✦ ────

✎ᝰ.┊ pre-read: not me picking this up solely because it’s by Travis Baldree… oh wait that was me

⬫ ⬪ ⬫
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

✰ the collection on amazon
✰ the collection on goodreads

a monastery, a bell tower, a forged tongue, a death, and someone in a suit of armor ready to put the pieces together! this has the exact level of whimsy you’d expect from a travis baldree story, with an extra fun twist element. i feel like this one feels extra hard to talk about without giving anything away, but this just completely worked for me, and i loved miss gentle and her character voice so much, despite this story having the worst cover of the collection!

trigger + content warnings: murder, death, gore, blood

blog | instagram | youtube | wishlist | spotify | amazon

.5) Bookshops & Bonedust ★★★★★
1.) Legends & Lattes ★★★★★
*.) Goblins & Greatcoats ★★★★
2.) Brigands & Breadknives ★★★★

♡ Magic & Mystery Amazon Collection Reviews:
➛ Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk by Travis Baldree
➛ The Wednesday Witches Book Club By Sarah Beth Durst
➛ The Lion’s Tusk By Robert Jackson Bennett
➛ A Labyrinth of Honeybees By Heather Fawcett
➛ The Wizard Who Kept Himself Suspicious By Scott Lynch
➛ Battle of the Round House By Tananarive Due
➛ The Cairndale Orphan By J. M. Miro

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abbot Listrum is in the Order of Venerous.

Radish sells the monastery’s beer and honey on behalf of the monks.

Brother Gorm was murdered, and none of the other brothers will cop to it.

Miss Gentle has come to help investigate the murder, preferably to solve it prior to the arrival of the fearsome bishop.

Expensive price for her work: the sacred tongue. 👅

Miss Gentle is quite eccentric. She seems to be a suit of armor that is empty. She is an old woman, with unusual ‘jewelry.’

Something about this author’s writing style is incredibly off-putting. Hard to put a finger on what, exactly, but it’s a snooze fest.

Extremely inauspicious opening to this collection.

This entire novella just apes the Catholic faith. Folks have been doing this since before Martin Luther. Come on, bro. Get some new material. 🤦🏼‍♂️

[Drusilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, weird. . .
I'd say it's a clear case of curiosity killed the cat.
The cover caught my eye, and I needed a few minutes of distraction. This story definitely delivered on that.
It wasn't really amusing, though. An interesting murder mystery with a nice resolution.
Hmm, that's all I can think of.

Watching Miss Gentle clank around the monastery and interrogate folk put Listrum in mind of a skunk that he’d allowed to get in and now followed around carefully, trying not to be sprayed. 😳

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alas, this collection was a miss for me as I rated all three I listened to in the two-star range.

An unorthodox investigator in a full suit of armour is hired to solve a bizarre murder at a monastery.

Narrated by the talented author himself, this was the darkly comical tale you’d expect. 

This was my mistake considering it’s a collection of SHORT stories, but these were all WAAAY too short. 

I couldn’t get invested and am even now, 12 hours later, struggling to remember details outside of the main plot. 

Finally, I didn’t find it humorous despite that being the tagline.

I’ve learnt my lesson about requesting before researching just because I love the authors’ full length works and they have pretty covers.

Bookstagram
Tiktok

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk
By Travis Baldree
This is a short story about a murder in a small town, and someone needs to find who killed the monk who was pushed off the building to his death. The one that comes to solve the mystery is a little old woman in a knight's armor. But she's not who she seems to be. Cute story.

[Steph ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was fine. As always, I wish it was longer and we could have got into the mystery a bit more. But alas. Love the cover.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany)]

A quite short yet entertaining speculative mystery with an investigator who shows up in a suit of mail. I would have liked a bit more to this, but it was light and fun, a quick read. The audio narration is good. I received an audio review copy of this via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

[TL *Humaning the Best She Can* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading for free with Kindle Unlimited
----

This was fun and the end gave me a good laugh for a few reasons 😄 🤣. I really hope we get to see more of this main character, she was awesome 👌 👏.

This would be a good short film in my humble opinion.

[Marcie Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

🔎 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀!

I had such a good time with this one! The characters were so unique and quirky, and I had quite a few giggles along the way. The mystery itself was enjoyable, although it was pretty clear who the culprit was, so there wasn't much suspense on that front. Still, the characters and humour made this a thoroughly entertaining little read. Definitely one I'd recommend if you're in the mood for a fun, light-hearted mystery!

[Mike Finn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an absurd, childish, fairy tale, played for pantomime laughs.

I ought to be way too grown up to have enjoyed it.

My eyes should have been rolling.

Except...

it hooked my curiosity.

Then it made me smile.

Eventually, it made me laugh.

Travis Baldree is sneeky like that.

[Jessica]

This one about took me OUT, as the kids say! The title alone was a hoot, and Miss Gentle is an ICON.

[Gerhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect combination of grisly detail, deadpan humour, and eclectic characters. And a real twist in the, er, tail.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 2 out of 5]

If only the story had been only half as cool and intriguing as the cover and the title.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky little murder mystery with an enigmatic talking suit of armour, a host of lying monks and a ginger cat called Mr Treacle. Miss Gentle is a protagonist who could easily carry a full length novel, with an intriguing backstory and cantankerous nature that I found really appealing. This was a fun time.

[Taylor Jefferson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short, there is some charm to the cantankerous and mysterious Miss Gentle. I wouldn't mind reading more mysteries solved by her but this was just crumbs.

[Alex Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting little story about a crime that happens at a priesthood and an old lady who arrives in a full suit of armour to investigate it.

There’s a tinge of Travis’ typical cuteness in this, but it doesn’t necessarily come out in the same way as some of their other stories, at least until the very end.

I also think this is very similar to one of the short stories in Tales from the Territory.

Had I not already read that collection of short stories set in the Legends and Lattes universe, I may have enjoyed this more.

3.0/5.0

[Nicola Nunney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great short story!

I wasn't expecting the ending though!

If this is what Travis Baldree's use of language and such is like, I can't wait to read more of his books. I might have to put my copy of Legends and Lattes near to the top of my reading pile.

[Rebecca Crunden]

❧ audiobook review

My first Baldree! I’ve been meaning to check out Legends & Lattes for ages now and just have not got around to it, so I'm delighted I finally read one of his! This was quick and fun, and very witty! Definitely worth a read!

☆ Bluesky | Twitter | Threads | Tumblr ☆
☆ Book Reviews | Indie Book Spotlight Discord ☆

[Abigail McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5 stars

spectacular, gimme 14 of 'em right now. (no for real this was so fun and so silly and I enjoyed it very much. this was my first travis baldree and a delightful way to start. I'd read more miss gentle adventures in a heartbeat.)

**content warnings for profanity and murder

[labibliofille · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine, but too short for me to really care about what was happening. Unfortunately, I've dound if I don't care about the stakes/characters, I just don't really care for the book/story. :/

[Carm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too shabby. It absolutely reads like a back door pilot. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of Miss Gentle.

[Amanda F · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 I mean, how much can I say about just a few pages? I think fantasy is hard to write when you are working with such a short page count. I liked that this was more of a mystery and I also liked that we had a bit of a twist ending.

[Brok3n · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of Travis Baldree's Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Danny_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea behind the character is good, but the mystery was extremely underwhelming.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karma is a cat? I'm a little puzzled by the elaborate nature of the detective, but this was cute. I think it might need to actually have been a novella rather than a short story for everything to really gel, but I'm rounding up to four anyway because I liked the idea of it.

[3.5 stars]

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

A monk is dead, he fell from the abbey's bell tower. The remaining members of the order are desperate to learn who killed him before the bishop returns. In their desperation, they called upon the investigator Miss Gentle. An old and peculiar woman who wears a full suit of armor.

Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk feels like a chapter out of a new book. Not the start of a new book, a random chapter. Miss Gentle appears with little to no context and gets to work immediately trying to find out who killed the monk Gorm. Despite the fact that no one liked Gorm, it isn't clear who may have killed him though everyone is certain that someone killed him.

Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk didn't have enough to it for me to really engage with the story. I'm curious to learn if Miss Gentle will appear in a new book.

[Karen ⚜Mess⚜ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was cute and a little humorous. Polar opposite of The Cairndale Orphan from the same collection.

MISS GENTLE AND THE CASE OF THE VERY FLAT MONK showed what great imagination and creativity Travis Baldree possesses. Travis also narrated his own story in the audio. Unfortunately, it was hard for me to follow along, so I had to read it. Although, I did like the way he did Miss Gentle's voice.

Only some 30 odd pages, and it was a good time, so 5 stars!