An Old-Fashioned English Christmas

The Twelve Clues of Christmas (Royal Spyness #6) by Rhys Bowen (Berkley Prime Crime hardcover, 6 November 2012).

Lady Georgina Rannoch really doesn't want to spend Christmas at the family Castle in the wilds of northern Scotland, but there isn't much choice. She'd taken pity on her sister-in-law Fig, who hadn't been well after baby Adelaide arrived (moving Georgie one step further down the line of succession to the throne of England) and gone to keep her company at the Castle. But then Fig's unpleasant mother arrived, and made Georgie feel superfluous. And then, Fig's equally unpleasant sister and niece arrived and made Georgie feel unhinged.

The holiday season is approaching, and Georgie really doesn't want to spend it in drafty Castle Rannoch with her awful in-laws. But Fig absolutely refuses to open up the London house for her, saying it's too expensive. Georgie is beginning to think that she'll have to suck it up (not her words), when she spots an ad in a society magazine for a

young woman of impeccable background to assist hostess with the social duties of large Christmas house party.

 Intrigued and hopeful, Georgie responds immediately, and soon finds herself at the home of Lady Camilla Hawse-Gorzely near the village of Tiddleton-under-Lovey in Devonshire.  But when she arrives, the household is in an uproar because the police are investigating the death of their neighbour. 

One death is bad enough, but there's another the next day, and the next.  Georgie believes that they can't all be accidents, despite the villagers' insistence on blaming a local curse, and manages to convince the handsome and mysterious Darcy O'Mara (who just happens to be related to the Hawse-Gorzleys) to help her investigate.

Rhys Bowen is at her best here, describing Georgian-era English Society with affection and humour.  
This light cozy mystery is a quick enjoyable read, especially if one is familiar with Georgie. 

As a bonus, a chapter on how to have an old-fashioned English Christmas closes the book.



FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book. 

Just finished reading...

Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen.*

Lady Georgiana Rannoch (Georgie to her friends), is again desperate. She has no job, no money, and her sister-in-law Fig has announced that she and Binky (Georgie's brother) will be joining her at Rannoch House in London. Georgie moved to London to avoid living with Fig, and wonders what to do now.

Once again, her relationship to the Queen works in her favour: Georgie is asked to represent the her Family at the wedding of her cousin (and old schoolmate) Princess Maria Theresa in Romania.

Along with a clumsy, inexperienced maid, and an overbearing chaperon, Georgie sets off for Romania. The wedding is to be held at Maria Theresa's ancestral home, a gloomy, isolated castle which was reportedly once inhabited by Vlad the Impaler, complete with a shadowy figure who prowls the halls at night.

The groom is from the Bulgarian royal family, and of course is accompanied by retainers and guards of his own. After dinner one night the Bulgarian Field Marshall Pirin collapses due to an apparent heart attack. Or is the ghostly prowler responsible for his death?

Luckily, the seemingly ubiquitous Darcy O'Mara is with the groom's party, and helps Georgie and her hapless maid to determine what's going on.

The fourth Royal Spyness mystery, despite the grim setting, is as charming as its predecessors. Highly recommended!

*Full disclosure: I received a review copy of the book from the publisher.

Recent reads

Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle.
This is the first book I purchased (and read) on my Sony Reader. (Yes, I have the elegant red one.)
Our heroine, Brooklyn Wainwright is an expert in rare books and their restoration. Although she'd been estranged from her mentor, Abraham Karastovsky, she is happy that they have reconciled. Until she finds him lying in a pool of blood in the midst of restoring an edition of Faust that is said to be cursed.
When Brooklyn is hired to complete the renovation of the Faust, she suddenly begins to have accidents, obviously caused by the person who killed Abraham.
Brooklyn is sure that Abraham was not killed by a curse, and she is determined to find the person responsible, although handsome security expert Derek Stone seems equally determined to keep her out of trouble, though she sees it as "getting in her way".
The bookbinding theme is not at all boring, as some might expect. Brooklyn is a vibrant, interesting protagonist and I look forward to further installments in the series.


Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen.
In which we meet Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, known to her friends as "Georgie". Thirty-fourth in line to the throne, Georgie became virtually penniless when she turned 21, as her allowance was cut off. Frustrated living with her older half-brother "Binky" and his wife at the family's estate, Castle Rannoch, Georgie decides to strike out on her own, and removes herself to the family's London home, Rannoch House. After an unsuccessful few hours as a cosmetics salesgirl at Harrods, she decides to start her own housekeeping business. The only problem is that the only housekeeper she employs is herself.
Binky joins her at Rannoch House when an unscrupulous Frenchman claims to have proof that their father gambled away the family lands. But when Georgie returns home to find the Frenchman drowned in the bath, with Binky the obvious suspect, she is certain that Binky is not smart enough to have committed the crime and sets out to clear his name.
In the process, she encounters some hilarious and harrowing situations, including several attempts on her life.
The book is written as a series of Georgie's diary entries, seems to me to detail the life of a young woman in 1930s London quite well.
The sequel, A Royal Pain, is already available in paperback, and Royal Flush, the third in the series, has just been released in hardcover. They will be added to my toppling TBR pile soon!