Beecham's Infirmary for the Affluent Afflicted (My Darling Malady #1)

A Victorian Gothic Paranormal Romance Novella by Briar Somerset
​​Series order note: Goodreads incorrectly displays Beecham’s Infirmary for the Affluent Afflicted as My Darling Malady #0.5, and Château Valmont and An Inheritance of Thirst as #1 due to its series numbering conventions. The intended reading order is: Beecham’s Infirmary for the Affluent Afflicted (#1, a series-opening novella); Château Valmont and An Inheritance of Thirst (#2, a novel-length sequel, released 15 Sept 2026); The Unsavory Whims of Unlikely Gentlemen: A Jacques Valmont Mystery (#2.5, a novella releasing January 2027, meant to be read after #2); The Valmont Bride and A Study in Becoming (#3, a novel-length third instalment, releasing 2027).

In a town where health is currency and longing is lure, a reluctant investigator and seamstress must uncover whether hunger will anchor a man already slipping into the dark.

Behind the decrepit doors of an Infirmary said to offer miraculous cures to London's ailing elite, people are vanishing. Private Investigator and estranged heir to French aristocracy Jacques Valmont is summoned across the channel to sleuth, despite the lingering sickness of his own—one of grief that stirs in his blood and shadows his mind.

Amidst the fog and fever, he finds an unlikely ally in Annie, the quick-witted seamstress working next door to Beecham's Infirmary, whose presence seems to quiet the storm inside him. When she suggests the only way to breach the infirmary's guarded walls is becoming a patient himself, Annie's grandmother warns them both of curses that fester with longing. Unnatural aches that transform a person entirely, if not quelled.

As Jacques nears the truth, desire and dread twist together. Annie may be the last tether holding him to his humanity—or the final thread that unravels it.