A Spotlight on Apt To Be Suspicious

A Month of Rain and Reads Spotlights4 months ago3 min readAdd comment

Welcome to A Month of Rain and Reads, a celebration of self-published and indie SFF throughout the entire month of November. To find out how you can take part and view the whole list of content, visit our introduction post.

Yesterday, we shared an interview with author and librarian Celia Lake (here), and today, we highlight her brand new release Apt To Be Suspicious. It’s the second book in the Liminal Mysteries series, and in the interview, it was described like this (slightly edited for clarity outside the interview):

Apt to be Suspicious is set during the 1947-1948 school year at Oxford. It’s about two people who are at university after war work they can’t talk about, and it’s full of cryptic crosswords, a puzzle that needs to be solved, and all the demands of being at university. Plus of course a fair bit of magic.

Edmund keeps busy.

He’s reading Greats at Oxford, and key exams are looming. That’s nothing compared to his work the last two years of World War 2, but there are expectations on all sides. Unlike most of his classmates, he’s also apprenticing in two different types of magic with their own demands and assignments. It’s supposed to be a year full of learning, expansion, and making the right show with the right people to build the future he wants.

Pen is frustrated.

Being at Oxford reading maths is everything she’s supposed to want. But it turns down to be rather a let down after her war work. Her time at Bletchley Park mattered. It would be different if she’d been able to find someone to talk to about her ideas around a magical approach to cryptography.

Edmund and Pen are drawn together when they independently notice several odd things that make them suspicious. It’s not just the comments about people having less money, or the odd classifieds. In between the ordinary sounds and demands of Oxford’s days and nights, there’s something else going on. When they combine their excellent minds and skills, there’s a chance they can solve the problem as smoothly as they do the crossword.

Apt to be Suspicious is set in the 1947-1948 year at Oxford University. It’s full of Oxford’s particular customs, cryptic crosswords, classics, and magic. Second in the Liminal Mysteries exploring the magical community of Britain after the Second World War, it can be read in any order.

Apt To Be Suspicious is out on November 7, 2025 (at the time of posting, that’s today), and you can find all the purchase options through the author’s website, here.

About the Author

Celia Lake is in her early 50s. Born and raised in the Boston, Massachusetts area by British parents, she grew up loving classic British school stories and mysteries from an early age. After living in Minnesota and Maine, she came back to Massachusetts in 2015 where she works as a research librarian, writes books, and is often being closely supervised by her cat. Besides writing, Celia enjoys reading, research, knitting, cooking, and table-top roleplaying games.