Saturday, March 10, 2012

Book Review: Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen

Title: Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries #1)
Author: Rhys Bowen
Enjoyment Rating: 7/10
Referral: The same friends who introduced me to Maisie Dobbs told me to read this
Source: Audible for iPhone
Books I've read this year: 39

What do you get when you cross Maisie Dobbs with Bridget Jones? Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line to the British throne, penniless, and boy-crazy to the max. Georgie moves out of her brother's cold and gloomy Scottish castle to London, where she reconnects with old friends from school, gets bossed around by her great-aunt (the queen), finds a dead man in her bathtub, tries to find a suitable job, and finds herself in all kinds of trouble. Although the book's title posits Georgie as a spy, she's actually kind of an anti-spy-- she keeps getting in terrible situations and narrowly avoiding death. The actual mystery of who killed the awful man who wanted to take away the castle and then kept trying to off Georgie isn't all that suspenseful (I had him pegged from the beginning) but the writing is fun, and Georgie is a great character. I love the way that Bowen uses actual historical characters (including the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson) as significant characters in the novel. The history feels well-integrated and I didn't care too much that the mystery wasn't that mysterious. I'll keep reading these.

1 comment:

anna said...

Hallelujah!! It is not a Whitney finalist. My reading lists have been dryin up lately because my favorite book reviewer is busy with the Whitney books. So finally something new!!! And you had me at Maisie Dobbs :)