The Murder at the Cracked Goblet: Five misfits, an enchanted bastide, and a corpse "bad for business" - The Unlikely One, (Paperback)

<b>A body on market day. No wound. No blood. A half-unwrapped honey candy on the cobblestones.</b> <p>In Cordes-sur-Ciel, magic replaced the Industrial Revolution centuries ago, and trouble always arrives on a Tuesday. </p><p>* * * </p><p><i>"Mauclaire," said Sorvyn.</i><br><i>"I can see it's Mauclaire," said Lormois. "What I can't see is why Mauclaire decided to die on market day, in a side street, in front of witnesses, on my beat."</i><br><i>"In my day," said Sagnol from the mouth of the alley, "people had the decency to die at home."</i><br><i>"Bah. Bad for business," said Torben.</i> </p><p>* * * </p><p>Sorvyn Veldaris just wanted to run his tavern, pour decent ale, and ask no questions. What he got instead: a body in the alley next door, an investigating mage from the High Magistery installed at his best table, and the growing certainty that a murder with no wound and no motive is only the beginning. </p><p>Joining him, for better or worse: </p><p>- <b>Torben</b>, dwarven brewer who says "bah" instead of everything else, whose ale nobody orders but whose loyalty nobody questions<br>- <b>Isaure</b>, high elf mage dispatched by the Magistery, who categorizes suspects alphabetically and drinks only tea, except when someone sets a cup in front of her without asking<br>- <b>Bramm</b>, half-orc bard who plays badly sober and divinely drunk, and who has been sleeping in the storeroom for three weeks without anyone telling him he could stay<br>- <b>Denarie</b>, priestess of the Temple of Commerce, scandalously tight-fisted, who has opened an eighth column in her ledger for a category she still refuses to name </p><p>* * * </p><p><i>"How much does a gesture cost?" asked Denarie.</i><br><i>"Free," said Torben, without looking up from his barrel.</i><br><i>"Free," she repeated, as if the word belonged to a foreign language whose grammar she'd never learned. "Which column does that go in?"</i><br><i>"None," said Sorvyn.</i> </p><p>* * * </p><p>Behind one dead peddler with no apparent motive: a forged trading license. Behind the license: a parcel shipped from Lutèce. Behind the parcel: a noble house that bears the name of the investigating mage herself. </p><p>And behind all of it, something that threatens the magical veins running beneath the entire bastide. </p><p>Five misfits who barely held together.<br>A conspiracy that goes far beyond the first murder.<br>A king who has never heard of them and has no idea they exist. </p><p>* * * </p><p>For fans of <i>Legends &amp; Lattes</i>, <i>The House in the Cerulean Sea</i>, and Pratchett's Discworld, set in an alternate France where magic replaced the Industrial Revolution. </p><p>- Found family, accidental and stubborn<br>- Cozy mystery, a murder solved without a drop of blood on the page<br>- Slow burn forbidden romance, dark elf meets high elf, society says no<br>- Alt-history France, magic guilds, no steam engines, medieval bastide in the Tarn&amp;</p>

• The Murder at the Cracked Goblet: Five misfits, an enchanted bastide, and a corpse "bad for business" - The Unlikely One, (Paperback)
• Author: Independently Published
• ISBN: 9798250201698
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2026-02-28
• Page Count: 288