Love and Death Among the Cheetahs (A Royal Spyness Mystery)

Besides Darcy and Georgie's newly married life and honeymoon being the star of this new Royal Spyness book, the story was also based on a 1930's unsolved murder, as well as tales of a British community in Africa! I didn't know this until the end of the book and that makes me like this book more than I already did. Almost all the characters in book thirteen are new to us. At first I was kind of bummed and thought I would miss reading about Georgia's granddad and other well loved characters, but I came to enjoy each new character. I tend to forget HOW MUCH land Britain used to own and that there were thousands of British communities all over the world. I love that Rhys Bowen included one such Colony and community in this book. Some books in this series have been stand outs- pure gems, and some have been okay. The writing is excellent in book thirteen, the character interaction was entertaining!, and I loved that a lot of this books content is based on real life. I think this is a definite five star book and one that will be read a few more times by me.

The author, in her forward acknowledged that the subject focus of this book was offensive. And she is right, but it does give one a look at the decadence of the upper class in colonial Africa after WWI, and she did not sanitize it to make it more politically correct. It is a fast-paced story set in Africa that kept me reading later into the night than usual. It is not very cozy. But it is very well researched, and Georgie and Darcy keep their heads and each other together as they work to solve another case. Such a good read! Well done, Mx. Bowen!

Love and Death Among the Cheetahs (A Royal Spyness Mystery Book 13) Okay. I love The Royal Spyness Series. However, there have been about 3 books which I really did not like. The Georgie & Darcy that I have loved over the years is back! With such a title for this book, I was cautiously hopeful for the continuation of the series. Never the less, I couldn't wait for the book to come out. And, I enjoyed it! Hopefully Ms. Bowen will continue the series with Georgie and Darcy doing what most married people do: learning more and more about each other AND discovering more mysteries and adventures.

I loved that this story was set in Africa, a new adventure for our dynamic duo. I especially like that Ms. Bowen does give snapshots of life in those days. Since this book is set in a foreign country and the culture of that time is so different than ours, some may not like this book but I do highly recommend this read. As always, there are many twists and turns in this book. Of course, the romance between Darcy and Georgie is so sweet, even with their ups and downs.

I do wish Zou Zou & Lord Kilhenny & Queenie would appear more frequently in the books. Zou Zou, of course, is a riot! I like that Queenie has found what she does best.

AUDIBLE: How I miss Katherine Kelgren and her audio rendition of the Spyness series! But, as I read some of the dialog, I could almost hear Miss Kelgren's voices for the familiar characters. I hope Audible will try different narrators for these stories to try to find a replacement for our deceased Miss Kelgren. Of course, no one will match Miss Kelgren but there are some good narrators that use different voices for their narrations.