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.

Georgie and Darcy finally get married and go on a working honeymoon in Kenya. Darcy works for the British government, unclear what branch. But he is helping to hunt communists and Nazis. There are nteresting descriptions of travel on fairly primitive airplanes and lodging in exotic places like Cairo and Khartoum. A Lord who is the leader of a group of dissolute British expatriates in Kenya is murdered. A whole group of suspects are considered, with motives of jealousy, Nazi agents, jewel thieves, drug runner, and others. The murderer is revealed and is a surprise. An excellent book. I rate it 8.5 of 10.

Liking or not liking a story is subjective. I love this series and look forward to each new book. I really wanted to love this book, but truth is that I'm struggling to finish it, and I usually am able to complete a book in this series within a couple of days. Ms. Bowen writes very well, usually tells a fun, light, entertaining story, and she researches her subject matter, but "Love and Death Among the Cheetahs" is falling flat and isn't worth $12.99 for an eBook, in my opinion.

I'm not sure exactly what it is about this story that falls flat for me, but I have a couple of ideas. While I know that the aristocracy in 1930's Kenya and elsewhere in Africa loved big-game hunting and didn't treat their African staff well, I'm having trouble getting past this. I recognize that we cannot judge the past by today's more enlightened standards, however. That's not the only possibility as to why I'm less than impressed with this book than the others in the series.

A reviewer suggested others look up Idina Sackville. I did, and in the course of reading about her realized that many years ago, I saw the film "White Mischief" about the Happy Valley Set and the murder of one of Sackville's husbands, and didn't like it, so I hope I'm not projecting my feelings about that film onto this book.

Back to the book itself: Familiar people like Belinda, Queenie, Grandfather, even Fig and Binky who are a presence in the other Royal Spyness novels always lend a light touch that is missing in this one. What I really like is that that Georgie and Darcy finally married and that their on-again/off-again, does he or doesn't he, will she or won't she relationship is resolved. I look forward to the next in the series to be better than this one.

Rating this 4 stars because I like the series, but it is not the best of the lot, and I wished I'd waited until the priced dropped before ordering it.

I am a little torn about this book. I liked it because A. Georgie is finally married to Darcy, and you get to see a more human side to both of them. After 12 books of foreplay you finally know they do have human needs and wants! Their relationship is still really cute. I also loved the fact that this book takes place in Kenya during the Happy Valley Set, and as usual Bowen has done her research and you actually learn about history while reading an entertaining cozy. It was a nice change of atmosphere, and I've always wanted to go and visit what was Happy Valley to see it for myself. So, this book had a lot going for it. Unfortunately, the main point of this book is a mystery and a murder, and you get about 2/3 through the book before the murder takes place, and by then you are kind of like oooh I thought this was just going to be a story about Kenya during the 1930s, and not a murder mystery, and I kind of was less engaged in the murder because of that. Also, as someone else mentioned, the other characters we have grown to love in other books like Belinda, Queenie, grandpa, mother, Fig, etc. aren't in this one very much, and that makes sense, because it takes place in Kenya, but you sort of miss them anyway. So, a lot of pluses for the setting and historical info, but quite a few negatives. Not my favorite Royal Spyness by far, but certainly will look forward to the next one!

I am a big Rhys Bowen fan. She is older than I am (75) and continues to put out three to four novels a year and to keep in touch with her readers. Some, like this one, are part of a series; and some are stand alones. In this novel, Georgie, the main character, is finally married and her now-husband takes her to Kenya for their honeymoon. Murder ensues in the midst of the hoity toity horny Brits there. The novel is entertaining enough, but the grammar is not always correct; and the resolution of the murder makes you question the propriety of interracial relationships. This is definitely not my favorite Rhys Bowen novel.