Dear Fellow Reader,
I have found a new cozy mystery series. I don’t remember how I heard of this series but I know that when went to the library to reserve the eBook that it took a long time to get it. I think I had to wait a month or so. Which tells you that either the book is popular or lots of people saw the same thing I did and got to the library site ahead of me.
The first book in the series is Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen. The book takes place in England in 1932. It is the time between World War I and World War II. The narrator is Lady Georgiana, who is 34th in line for the throne. She was raised to be a proper English Lady and has come out to society but did not find a husband. Her father, the Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch, shot himself after he lost all his money gambling. Her brother, Binky, inherited the family estate in Scotland and the house in London. The death taxes that he had to pay meant that he had to sell part of the estate and live very frugally. Binky’s wife, Fig, has convinced him the Georgie should not receive any allowance and she wants her to leave the estate in Scotland. Georgie heads off to the London house by herself. While this might sound great – she’ll get away from Fig – the problem is that she doesn’t know how to do anything. She had never even had to dress herself. She gets to London with very little money and must figure out how to live by herself and not freeze or starve in the family house.
Luckily for Georgie, her father had married a commoner. Georgie has a grandfather who lives in London. He is a retired policeman. They have a special bond and he tells her how to start fireplace fires and get the boiler running. She also has a good friend from her school days who lives in London and takes her out to some parties.
A man comes to the door one day looking for Binky. The man claims that the dead Duke had gambled away the London house and that he has the paperwork to prove it. Binky comes up to meet the man and engage a solicitor. Georgie then finds the man dead in her bathtub. She knows that Binky could not have killed him but who did? She doesn’t trust the police – they seem sure it had to be Binky.
As I said, this is the first book in a series. There are currently 10 books in the series with number 11 coming out in August. I was not totally thrilled with the first book. I do think that it serves the purpose of setting the stage for all the other books. In this book, you get to meet the main characters and you get to know Georgie. The mystery part is a bit light and if being able to determine “who did it” ruins the book for you, you might be disappointed. With this being said, I am now reading book #6 in the series (The Twelve Clues of Christmas) and I feel that they have gotten better each book. Can you read the books out of sequence? I think you can because there is usually an introduction to the characters in the first chapter but I think you will get a better feel for the story if you start with the first book.
Ah, a fireplace, comfy couch, a cup of tea, and a book…..
If you are a fan of reading cozy mysteries and reading mystery series books, I think these will be right up your alley. I have been enjoying them. They are fairly quick reads and Georgie is a fun narrator.
The author of the Her Royal Spyness series, Rhys Bowen, also has three other series – the Molly Murphy series and the Evan Evans series and the Red Dragon Academy series. I have not read any of those books. Rhys Bowen is the pen name of Janet Quin-Harkin. She has won numberous awards for her writing. You can find out more about her at her author website.
Happy Valentine’s day a little early!
(Okay, here is the part that if you click on the links below that I can make a penny or two from Amazon. I have still not made any money from the affiliate referral program.)
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Carol Early Cooney 