1851, London. All supernatural species have emerged from hiding, a result of The Great Revelation, led by Her Majesty, the vampiric Queen Victoria, and her dhamphir consort, Prince Albert.
Cora Hastings is the British government’s Species Ombudsman, a human tasked with keeping the peace between supernatural creatures. It’s run-of-the-mill work: enforcing the newly created shifting parameters, negotiating contracts between species, and generally making certain all Londoners are treated equally.
That is, until the Devil himself decides he wants to leave his hellish home and see the results of Prince Albert’s greatest accomplishment, the Great Exhibition. His arrival could upset the uneasy peace between creatures, and worse—he’s brought his son.
The Marquis of Hell is diabolically good-looking, unnaturally perceptive, and, well, a demon. Cora navigates her sinfully seductive diplomatic assignment as best she can, until she catches wind of a secret conspiracy set to come to fruition at the opening of the Great Exhibition. This leaves her with an impossible choice: Either Cora enters an unholy alliance with the Devil’s son, or she watches as her world is torn asunder….
Release Date: Aug 25, 2026
Series: Ministry of Supernatural Affairs
Book: 1
Heat Level: Sensual
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
A Victorian paranormal tale with a splash of cozy.
I’m going to go in reverse for a minute and start off with the fact that this book often felt like it didn’t know what kind of book it wanted to be. Mystery, romance, cozy Victorian fantasy, or even a paranormal slice of life with romantic elements. This strange mash of uncertainty is what enabled me to walk away from the story, which upset me as I wanted to fall in love with this one. Alas, I found that unlike our lovely main character, this story wasn’t my exact cup of tea.
Tea, as mentioned, is the beverage of choice by our lead, Cora Hastings. She’s the first-ever species ombudsman since the Great Revelation. A revelation in which supernatural species were revealed to humanity, starting with Queen Victoria, who is a vampire. Cora is a human through and through, except she’s really good at solving conflicts, accepting people, fairies, or werewolves as they are, and unflappable in the face of the most surprising situations.
Such a situation emerges when the Devil announces he wants to visit London. Cora is assigned the mission of ensuring the Devil and his entourage do not cause any trouble while in London, as well as keeping the Devil happy because the black plague coming back due to the Devil’s boredom would be the absolute worst. Except, Cora doesn’t deal with the Devil as much as being forced to coordinate with his ridiculously gorgeous, perceptive, and annoying son, Marcellus. She has to balance attempted assassinations, attacks by imps, religious zealots, power-hungry politics, and of course, a demon’s desire to tempt her to distraction. Whatever shall she do?
What works? The world Frampton has created is fun, interesting, and different than other stories. At first it gave me Parasol Protectorate vibes without the steampunk. Though I quickly found myself frustrated with Cora, with Marcellus, and this back and forth between mystery and regular slice-of-life adventures. One minute there is a serious plot and dastardly deeds, the next we’re going for dinner and tea as if the deadly event that occurred wasn’t important. Additionally, there was a fourth-act event that, no matter how I think about it, didn’t make sense to me in the end.
Overall, Frampton has the world-building and weaving to craft brilliant stories. My connection to Cora and this world wasn’t deep enough to keep me engrossed. Though it may be the perfect blend of cozy, mystery, and romance for someone else. As mentioned, if you enjoyed authors like Gail Carriger or Kristen Callihan’s Darkest London series, you will probably like this one.
~ Landra
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