Her Royal Spyness

As the granddaughter of Queen Victoria's least noteworthy daughter, Georgiana is thirty-forth in line to the throne and has all the expensive responsibilities of royalty, like having the proper wardrobe for official functions, but none of the money and being royal she's not supposed to work. While rattling around her family's Scottish estate she discovers she's about to be married off to an Eastern European prince whose unfortunate personality, fish-like looks and likelihood of being assassinated combine to make him highly undesirable as a husband so she flees to London and camps out in the family mansion without servants, proper food, heat or hot water.

Even living in genteel poverty it's fun to be in town, hobnobbing around with her bright young things friends, but problems begin piling up immediately. She doesn't know how far to trust the roguish but very appealing future Irish Lord she's party crashing with in order to eat, she needs to find a way to earn money without her royal relations finding out about it, she discovers a body in her bathtub causing her well-meaning but none too bright duke brother to be wrongly arrested, and she's commissioned by the Queen to spy on her cousin David's married lover Wallace Simpson. Fortunately Georgia is resourceful, smart and game. She's learned a thing or two from her commoner Cockney grandfather, a retired police officer and the father of her decidedly not royal mother, a globe-hopping former actress with a penchant for men who bears a strong resemblance to Nancy Mitford's Bolter. And Georgiana is upper crust enough to be able to place people based on their vocabulary, a distinction Mitford labeled U and non-U, which she uses as a linguistic tool in her quest to exonerate her brother. It all makes for a perfectly fun book, and fortunately it's the first of a series.

This is the first in a series of novels featuring a interesting woman who is 34th in line for the Queen of England in 1932. This leads to a number of interesting situations since she must keep up appearances but she is broke. The author pulls this off with humor mixed with suspense as it becomes clear that someone is trying to kill her and frame her half brother for murder. This novel is reminiscent of Agatha Christie`s writing. It is comfortable, action moves steadily, there is danger for the heroine, but there isn't any horror, and the reader knows it will all work out in the end. There are clues to help the reader figure out who is the bad guy. There is a good deal of humor, reasonable character development, and good action. This is an excellent book and I look forward to others in the series.

I loved this whole series of books. I almost passed it up because the title seemed frivolous but after reading the description and being familiar with some of the author’s other books I decided to take a chance. I bought the audiobook versions and have enjoyed the heck out of them more than once. It’s fun reading/hearing about a different lifestyle and another country. Ms. Bowen’s other books are good too but these just hit the right spot for me. I am glad to see there is a new book about to come out too !

Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter of the late Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch, is a great grandchild of Queen Victoria and 34th in line for the throne. She is also as poor as a churchmouse. Her father squandered the family fortune, and her brother (the present Duke) cut off her allowance when she turned 21, expecting her to get married so that someone else would support her. Set in 1932, when commoners were standing in lines at soup kitchens, and the wealthy were still living very well in their own separate world, she sets off to London to seek her fortune. But what is she to do - a member of the royal family cannot take a common job (unheard of), at least not using her own name. She finds that other people (poor and well connected) have means of survival - like attending people's receptions and dinner parties, always good for at least a meal, or perhaps being someone's house guest.

Of course there is a murder, and Georgiana becomes involved and finds herself in some personal danger. Along the way you meet a variety of characters - her mother, an actress who is involved with her most recent conquest; her grandfather on her mother's side of the family (definitely not royal, but with useful connections of his own); the German nobleman people keep trying to marry her off to (but there are a few problems with that); her friends from the Swiss boarding school she attended (one friend in particular); and various suspects and spear carriers.

Off course you meet the Queen, who enlists Georgiana's services to check out that horrid Simpson woman that the Prince of Wales has become infatuated with (an American, no less, and soon to be divorced - not suitable at all). You get a look at the society of the time period.

I am surprised that I did not come across this novel before. It is very well researched and well written, and a very enjoyable book to read.

The tone was soft and engaging and her integration of the fictional heroine into the very real events of the royals of that time was very nicely done. What I wondered about were the sexual mores of the times for young ladies - had it really loosened up as much in 1930s England as suggested by the novel? I did some research and found that Wallis Simpson and all the men and women of her set were married multiple times, usually a minimum of 3 marriages, so if puritanical United States saw that as an option to sexual experimentation, then it is at least plausible that Europe would be more fluid.

However, I found all that edge of the plot distracting. It didn’t fit with the overall tone and perspective of the heroine - genteel. True, she maintained her gentility, but that seemed at odds with her early indications that she wanted more sexual experience. As I said, it didn’t fit.

Even so, the story was well-written and I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. to finish it, so I am intrigued and we will read more in the series and also consider her Constable Evans series. How can I resist the puny titles?

Whoever did the cover art for this book needs to win an award. That is what caught my attention in the first place, then I noticed the author and realized that it might be a mystery. Luckily for me it was so I snapped it up. The actual plot of the book has been described fully and well in other reviews so any information you need along those lines is readily available from many other sources. Although, I must confess that I'm still looking for the diary entries mentioned in the review from Booklist. Perhaps the chapter headings is what was meant?

I have read many of Rhys Bowen's EVAN EVANS books and always enjoy her handling of a mystery. I was expecting this book to have the same depth of mystery involvement but I'm afraid I was slightly disappointed along those lines. This is the first of what will obviously be a new series for this author. The greater part of the book is given over to the development of Lady Georgiana, her family and friends, and her place in the aristocratic society of the England of 1932. The writing is first rate. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the world they inhabited. Because actual historical characters are interwoven throughout the story, and because it is so well written, it is possible to believe that these are real people and I am reading about happenings in their real lives.

My only criticism of the book is that I know how very talented this author is in plotting mysteries. This one was not quite hard enough to figure out. In actual fact it was quite easy. I do want to keep in mind, though, that a lot of information had to be given about Lady Georgiana in order to set her up as our major character and I am assuming that future books will give her a broader scope in which to relate to a wider range of people. I think that this title was an absolute stroke of genius. Congratulations on that one, Ms Bowen. I just loved reading about Georgie going to have tea with Her Majesty. Wonder who got to eat all the lovely cakes and tarts?

I liked the heroine in this story because she had some brains and didn’t do the stupid things that some authors use to set up the conflict in their stories. The setting was well described so I felt that I could picture every scene very clearly. All in all, a good solid cozy mystery. (I only gave it a rating of 4 because I save 5s for truly outstanding books.)

This is a clever and well-written murder mystery (the first novel in a series) featuring a minor royal—Georgina, a young woman thirty-fourth in line to the English throne—in depression-era (1930s) Britain. Ms. Bowen paints a nice picture of the time, place (mostly London), and people—a small slice of the wider royal family and other relatives and friends—who populate the story. The mystery is clever; the killer is unmasked at the end. A pleasurable read.

After finishing the second book in a very intense fantasy series and needed something a bit more light to calm my mind down. “Her Royal Spyness” by Rhys Bowen was perfect. The first book of the series, it is a wonderful throwback to the great mystery who-done-its of the past. The plot was intriguing, the characters fun, and set in London and Scotland - of course I was reading with an accent the whole time! An absolute joy to read and I will definitely be continuing the series. 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“London, 1932. Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line for the English throne, is flat broke. She's bolted Scotland, her greedy brother, and her fish-faced betrothed. London is a place where she'll experience freedom, learn life lessons aplenty, do a bit of spying for HRH—oh, and find a dead Frenchman in her tub. Now her new job is to clear her long family name...”

Set in London in the 1930s our protagonist, Georgie, decides to declare her independence and travel from Scotland (where she lives with her half-brother and sister-in-law) to London. As a distant relative of royalty, Georgie has a title to her name - however, that title is not accompanied by any funds, so, she must do her best to learn how to live on her own without a maid and discover a way to earn a living for herself without Her Royal Highness the Queen discovering her ventures.

It isn't until about halfway through the book that the mystery begins. A murder has been committed, and Georgie (for reasons I'll not spoil) must figure out who committed the crime. The plot starts to pick up when Georgie begins to suspect that the murderer may be from her own class and her own mix of friends.

I enjoyed the concept of this book and only wish it had been executed a little better. The mystery, I found, to be a tad thin. Not that I knew "whodunnit" - but there wasn't much to ponder as the main suspects are fairly obvious, and yet there's not enough information to try and surmise anything further. I think this, and the fact that the book wasn't really a full blown mystery (as the title seems to suggest) hampered the read for me. Plus, while I liked all the characters, I didn't really adore any of them (expect maybe one or two minor characters), and it seemed there was something about each character that kept me from being totally behind them.

I greatly appreciated the lightness of this book (I'm not a hard core murder mystery reader as I have a queasy-reader's stomach!). I was pleased that nothing was really bloody or detailed or depressing. That said, I found it a tad too light from the characters' perspectives at times. Someone did die, after all, and I thought some of the characters should have handled it a tad more delicately.

All that said, I really did enjoy the book! Bowen had many clever quips and many lines that made me laugh! And the beginning where Georgie is starting her independent life is most enjoyable! Overall, I thought it was a clever premise and a unique twist for a murder mystery.