My yearly Series-ous Reading challenge has taken quite a few turns this time around and now having morphed into a Five Point Page Turning Plan, is about to engage in another new twist.
Right now, however, let us proceed to talking about Crowned and Dangerous by Rhys Bowen, the tenth book in the Her Royal Spyness series of cozy historical mysteries.
Our leading lady, Georgiana “Georgie “ Rannoch is on the road to Scotland(Gretna Green, to be precise) with Darcy O’Mara, the man she loves and is willing to risk the displeasure of her regal relatives to elope with.
Fate steps on the brakes as Darcy receives word that his father, Lord Kilhenny, was arrested for murder. Lord K lost his family fortune and sold his castle to an American businessman named Timothy Roach, who kept his Lordship on to run the stables.
Upon being fired for allegedly doping a prize race horse, Lord K had a loud fight with Roach that makes the prime suspect when the American is discovered dead the next day.
Despite their lack of affection towards each other, Darcy is determined to help his father out in any way he can and not only halts the hazy wedding plans but breaks up with Georgie altogether! Fearing that his family name will be forever tainted by this seemingly hopeless case, Darcy insists that it’s in her best interest to find someone else to marry.
Georgie, however, is no stranger to hopeless looking accusations and heads out to Ireland on her own to help save the day. She winds up staying with a couple of his relatives, the offbeat Aunt Oona and Uncle Dooley, whose messy house and topsy turvey ways may be strange but whose hearts are definitely in the right place on the matter:
She’s later joined by an old friend of Darcy’s, an exiled princess affectionately called Zhou Zhou who is a combination of Marlene Dietrich and Amelia Earhart with her tendency to take off in her own private aircraft for adventure.
With many shadows of doubt about the true identity of the deceased American being highlighted by Georgie and friends, the possibility of Lord K ‘s guilt grows dimmer but can the powers that be clearly see that? Or are the real bad guys able to get away with more than one dastardly deed?!:
Like most of this series, Crowned and Dangerous has numerous charms from characters both regular and new that solving the case is not entirely an overwhelming concern.
That doesn’t mean that the mystery is neglected, rather that the main focus is on the emotional development of the players rather than catching the villain(although those pursuits are necessary to clear things up for our leads).
It’s nice to see supporting characters like Georgie’s haphazard maid Queenie start to find some confidence and skill during this caper instead of remaining in place as a perky punchline. Even Georgie has been slowly yet surely becoming more confident about dealing with things in her quietly indomitable way. It’s why I enjoy this series so much.
At the moment, I am in the middle of book 11, On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service, as Georgie heads to Italy in order to check on her best friend Belinda but also to do a little unofficial snooping for the Queen.
Seems that Prince Edward and his unsuitable paramour Mrs. Simpson are paying a visit at a nearby villa where a rather suspicious meeting of international types is happening.
The Queen is more concerned about a secret wedding than politics yet even Georgie senses something in the air concerning the latter. So far, this trip has quite the intrigue, including some possible blackmailing of Georgie’ flighty actress mother Claire before any murder has taken place! Also, the atmosphere of Italy in the countryside is enchanting indeed:
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