Georgie, cousin to the Queen, is flat broke. She escapes to London for freedom only to wind-up with a dead man in her bathtub.
Title: Her Royal Spyness
Author: Rhys Bowen
ISBN: 0425215679 (ISBN13: 9780425215678)
Genre: Historical cozy mystery
Series? Yes; On-going
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
First Publication Date: July 3rd, 2007 (336 pages)
Synopsis:
In 1932, Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line for the throne and cousin to the Queen, is flat broke. Her brother, Binky, has control of their estate in Scotland and their residence in London and her sister-in-law, Fig, is ready for Georgie to be gone. In her mid-20s, that means marriage.
Overhearing the name of the man, Prince Stiegfriend (aka Fishface), who will be potentially proposing to her, Georgie escapes to London to find her own way. This includes, cooking and cleaning for herself, and learning to dress herself. She also learns a few other tasks, if only to make her life more comfortable as she learns how to survive on her own and search for a job while hiding her noble-birth. Georgie finds a friend and fellow ‘broke noble’ in Darcy O’Mara who gives her tricks and tips, making life easier.
Things are finally starting to look up for Georgie, until Binky visits London and a dead man ends up in their bathtub. Georgie must solve the murder before the police put her brother or her in prison!
Review:
This book is cute, fun, and quick to read. While the story isn’t gripping in its intensity, the flow of the story and the humor help keep the reader engaged. While it does take a while for the mystery to truly begin, the build up was believable and not at all annoying. The humor produced a few small chuckles from me, but not enough for me to recommend this to someone wanting a funny book. While the synopsis on Goodreads and the title refer to how Georgie is being called on by the Queen to spy on the Prince, that is a very small part of the book, so I wouldn’t say the title or the weight given to that plot line are accurate reflections of the book.
The characters were all quite defined and easily recognizable. There were a few times I confused some characters, but I blame that on my own memory and the spacing between their appearances. I think Georgie is a lovable character and hard-working. She may not be the easiest character to relate to, but I feel her predicament and her solution will gain her dedicated readers.
The setting was exquisite. It really felt the research was done for this book and it allows the readers to fall easily into the setting and perhaps learn more about the time period. The choice of time period allowed the characters some flexibility with how they act and gave them more freedom to move, which was fun to read about.
I will definitely be continuing this series at a later date.
Advertisements Share this:
