Delightful

CBR12 Bingo: Violet

This book was an absolute delight. Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 34th in line to the throne, has just moved to London from her family’s estate to escape being betrothed to some homely European prince. She’s flat broke and has absolutely no useful skills. She spends her time learning to cook, clean, care for herself, and find ways to earn money when one day she walks into her bathroom to find that someone has drowned a Frenchman in her bathtub. She and her brother soon become the prime suspects, and Georgie must work to clear their names. On top of that, it appears that someone is trying to kill her off as well.

This is the start of the Her Royal Spyness mystery series, and I am very excited to keep reading. Georgie is a great character–funny, honest, brave, resourceful. I also loved her friend Belinda, her Cockney Granddad, her hapless brother Binky and his frugal wife Fig, her love interest Darcy–really all of the characters are fun. This book definitely benefited from my reading it directly after Strange Practice, which was a huge disappointment, but I think I would have liked it anyway. The mystery is engaging but not too scary, and while I figured out the murderer fairly early on, it was still very enjoyable. The book takes place in the 1930s, and includes cameos from David, Prince of Wales (later to become Edward VIII), Wallis Simpson, and Queen Mary. I’m interested to see what the author does with David and Wallis as World War II approaches.  I’ve already checked out Book 2 from the library. I’m excited to have a new series to look forward to!