Love, Death, and Comedy: Five Questions with Caitlyn Paxson

Benjamin Franklin once wrote that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” but one of the delights in fantasy novels is that even those aren’t certain. They may well be of concern—especially when the livelihood of an entire village depends on it’s lord being alive and well and keeping the lands out of the hands of his wicked (and ambitious) brother. It’s entirely understandable that in these circumstances, the lord’s widow might seek the help of a necromancer in order to bring back her husband by any means necessary.

Caitlyn Paxson

But not everyone is nefarious enough to pull off “any means necessary,” and Caitlyn Paxson’s novel A Widow’s Charm, which hits bookstore shelves next week (March 31, 2026), heightens the comedy through misunderstandings, ribald double entendre, and canine hijinks. In honor of the release, Caitlyn answered five questions (with a mini-review that follows!).

Alana: Badly describe your novel in one sentence (and then tell us what it's really about).

Caitlyn: A small dog inherits a manor house and accidentally makes two idiots fall in love.

A Widow’s Charm is the story of a desperate widow who decides she has to resurrect her dead husband so they can save their community from falling into the hands of his horrible brother. To achieve this, she attempts to blackmail the disgraced and deeply depressed necromancer next door. She’s not very good at it, so he thinks she’s trying to seduce him. Misunderstandings, madcap antics, and heartfelt romance ensue.

Alana: Your novel opens with something of a trigger warning—but also with the promise that it will all work out by the end. (As a reader, I forgot all about it until the relevant moment, and it gave me much comfort!) What inspired you to begin with what some readers might consider a spoiler?

Caitlyn: I actually added the sort-of-trigger-warning just before I started querying the manuscript, out of genuine concern! It’s about something in the book that really upsets me when I encounter it in other people’s books (or movies, or… in any media, really) so I wanted to warn readers that it happens and let them know that they don’t need to worry about it because it’s all going to be okay. And I don’t really think of it as a spoiler, because your experience is the intended one! I hope readers have a little laugh at it initially, and then every time it almost happens throughout the book, they think, is it now? And then after it isn’t, they let it slip their minds—and then it happens and hopefully surprises them a little even though they knew it was coming!

Alana: What is your favorite line from A Widow's Charm that you can share without spoilers?

Caitlyn: I’m pretty proud of the first line, which took me a long time to get right:

“Death slipped in at the end of a perfectly ordinary day, creeping over the threshold of evening as if it might go unnoticed—as if the consequences of it would not shape all that was to come.”

But I also have a soft spot for:

“Your badger hound is stuck in my crevasse.”  

Alana: A Widow's Charm feels like cozy fantasy, a romance of manners, and a Regency novel—what were some of your inspirations from those genres that influenced your work?

Caitlyn: I grew up consuming a lot of theatre, and A Widow’s Charm owes much to Shakespeare’s more madcap comedies in particular, like Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These plays are hilarious and goofy and full of ribald jokes, but simultaneously deliver incredibly poignant romance and astute observations about what it means to be human. Similarly, The Princess Bride (the movie and the book) was a childhood favorite that really set the tone for me about how to combine fantasy, comedy, and romance.

As far as fantasy novel influences, I’ve been an avid fantasy reader my whole life, so there are endless titles I could list, but one author who has had a profound impact on my writing is my dear friend C.S.E. Cooney, whose stories are so sparkling and inventive that they always excite me. More specifically, her World Fantasy Award-winning book, Saint Death’s Daughter, stars a gentle sweetheart of a necromancer, who inspired me to ponder just how loveable a necromancer could be.

I only really became an avid romance novel reader while I was in the middle of writing A Widow’s Charm, but two authors I quickly fell in love with are Cat Sebastian and T. Kingfisher, and I hope this book is in conversation with theirs.

I love rewatching movie adaptations of Jane Austen novels because they tend to blend costume drama and romcom and that is 100% my jam—my two favorites are Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Emma (2020). These are the sorts of things I would watch in the evening instead of writing if I let myself, so I had to make my manuscript feel like them so I would choose it instead.

Alana: If you could choose one of your characters, from this novel or the next, to spend an evening with, who would it be, and what would you do?

Caitlyn: I think it would be awfully fun to spend an evening out on the town with Elmwood and Winthrop. And maybe after attending the opera and galivanting around the city of Neck, we’ll end up being the subjects of a fabulous highway robbery upon the Wodewood Road when we’re waylaid by Issie and Han from Book 2 (Rogue Charmers, coming in spring 2027)!

Though honestly, an evening curled up with Rollo the badger hound on a chaise next to the fire is probably more my speed.

A Widow's Charm

Mini-Review:

It’s easy to tell from her interview answers that Caitlyn is as charming as her characters, and one of the best parts of the book is that the cast is such a sheer delight to spend time with. Hilde, the widow, feels duty-bound to protect everyone (and not really let anyone protect her in return). Elmwood is a soldier, still suffering from his experiences on the battlefield (not to mention being on the run from the law). They’re both people in need of healing, and they don’t expect to find that in each other. But though they both start out thinking they’re using each other, they find real, human connection in the middle of a difficult time, and that sense of joy and hope infuses the novel. There’s never a doubt that these characters will find a way to get to a happy ending, though what that ending looks like is very much in question.

The novel handles the premise of a novel trying to resurrect her dead husband while also falling in love with the necromancer without ever making it feel like something untoward is happening (or, at least, not really). Caitlyn does a fantastic job of exploring Hilde’s relationship with her husband in way that also brings to light class disparity and power inequality, countering that with using privilege for the good of others. How does all of that heavy material fit into a cozy novel? Caitlyn’s use of humor throughout the novel keeps even the heaviest content—and these characters are going through it, so there are definitely heavy themes—from becoming overwhelming.

It also helps that Hilde and Elmwood’s supporting cast are so delightful. Hilde’s stoic sister Han seems, at times, like she’s the sister with the better head on her shoulders. Hilde’s staff—Cook, Francie, and Ed—form a much sturdier base for Hilde than she realizes; her own plots and plans wouldn’t get far without them, though she doesn’t know it! Elmwood’s “betrothed,” Lady Isobel, is the kind of ingenue you might love to hate if only she weren’t also such a wonderful character with steel hidden in her spine. Elmwood’s best friend, Wintrhop, a loveable lawyer whose madcap plans are the only thing keeping Elmwood’s head above water, should get to star in his own book if the series gets to continue that long. The Harrier is the type of villain readers love to hate. But best of all, Rollo the badger hound is such a very good boy! It’s a wonderful cast that feels deep and wide, and like you could spend time with any one of them in a scene and feel the world was richer for it. Rating: 9.5.

There’s still time to pre-order the novel before it comes out! It hits bookstore and library shelves on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.