One of the reasons that I chose Sisters in Sleuthing as my theme for this year’s bout of Series-ous Reading was as incentive to catch up on a few good mystery series that I sadly fallen behind on.
To that end, it was a delight to return to Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness books with Heirs and Graces, starring Lady Georgiana “Georgie” Rannoch. While being number 37 in line for the throne of England during the 1930s sounds like quite the grand life, Georgie has more of an upscale hand to mouth existence.
The only steady gig she can get is doing favors for the Queen and this time out, Georgie is asked to assist Dowager Duchess Edwina, whose cold hearted son Cedric has no interest in providing an heir for the family estate(or even his family for that matter).
An alternative has been found in Australia, Jack, the son of Cedric’s deceased brother John. Jack has been brought to Britain to learn the ways of high society in order to one day take over the estate and Georgie is meant to be a relatable guide to this new world for him.
While Jack is a pretty good natured guy, he has no real desire to be the next Duke and finds the whole stiff upper lip lifestyle to be ridiculous to say the least:
Unfortunately, Jack is handed the reins far sooner than expected as Cedric is found dead one rainy morning with a literal knife in his back. A knife that Jack brought with him from back home and is known to throw with possibly deadly accuracy.
Georgie, with the help of Darcy O’Mara(her love interest and occasional royal spy himself), wants to prove Jack innocent before the local police are too quick to pin the murder on him. With Cedric having more than his fair share of enemies, the question of who done it has several answers indeed.
What I like best about the Royal Spyness stories is the screwball comedy energy that lightens the mystery mood without diluting the crime solving elements.
Each book gives the reader a fun set of characters to be around and here, we get such delights as a pair of noble lady aunts , one obsessed with séances and the other with telling tales about her love life that would make Blanche from the Golden Girls blush, a couple of twin siblings eager to be junior detectives and Georgie’s awkward lady’s maid Queenie.
Such a cast is worthy of an encore by the end and if they ever adapt these charming books into a TV show, audiences will be as enchanted as readers are with Georgie and friends:
While I do want to clear some TBR space with this blog series, I also want to bring in the new.
To that end, my current Series-ous Reading selection is the first in a brand new Barbara Ross cozy mystery series, Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody.
The lady of the title is a modern day retiree with a knack for problem solving in her Concord, Mass community but never offered money for her services until now.
When the manager of a senior living residency hires Jane to give her take on stopping the disruptions caused by two set of live in rivals, she gets more than she bargained for, especially when one of the major trouble makers is found dead on the golf course!
So far, this book is engagingly good and Jane is proving to be quite the formidable detective who takes no prisoners and refuses to suffer fools gladly, my kind of gal! :
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