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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780425221631
ISBN number: 0425221636
Label: Berkley Hardcover
Manufacturer: Berkley Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: July 01, 2008
Publishing house: Berkley Hardcover
Sale Popularity Level: 18133
Studio: Berkley Hardcover
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Product Description:
Another hilarious mystery featuring penniless aristocrat Lady Georgie, “a feisty new heroine to delight a legion of Anglophile readers” (Jacqueline Winspear).
The Queen of England has concocted a plan in which Georgie is to entertain a Bavarian princess— and conveniently place her in the playboy Prince’s path, in the hopes that he might finally marry.
But queens never take money into account. Georgie has very little, which is why she moonlights as a maid-in-disguise. She must draw up plans: clean house to make it look like a palace; have Granddad and her neighbor pretend to be the domestic staff; un-teach Princess Hanni the English she’s culled from American gangster movies; cure said Princess of her embarrassing shoplifting habit; and keep an eye on her at parties. Then there’s the worrying matter of the body in the bookshop and Hanni’s unwitting involvement with the Communist Party. It’s enough to drive a girl crazy...
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Rated by buyers 
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As this sequel to HER ROYAL SPYNESS begins it is June, 1932 and Lady Georgiana (Georgie) Rannoch has taken up residence in the family's London townhouse because she can afford the rent (none) and it is far away from her brother and his overbearing wife. Georgie's father had lost the family fortune in the 1929 Crash and had dealt with this problem by committing suicide. In order to support herself Georgie had set up an 'exclusive' cleaning service - she was the only employee - drawing her aristocratic contacts for clients. The complicated part came from keeping her participation as the maid a secret. If the news got back to her family, particularly her cousin the Queen, Georgie feared that she would be sent off to the country to be a companion to an elderly relative or worse, married off to the odious (and gay) Prince Siegfried. When Georgie got a summons to the palace she feared the worst but instead the Queen wanted Georgie to act as hostess and chaperon to Hannelore, a Bavarian princess fresh from the convent who the Queen hopes will distract her son from the most unsuitable Wallis Simpson. Georgie thinks she may have gotten off easily but after she meets the Princess, and her entourage she begins to have second thoughts - even before she discovers Hannelore's unfortunate tendency to shoplift, chase after strange men and, oh yes, turn up around dead bodies. Georgie is kept busy trying to stay ahead of one potential disaster after another in her delightful style that is certain to charm the reader.
This is the second in a new series of cozy mysteries set in the 1930's featuring Lady Georgiana, 34th in line to the throne. Author Rhys Bowen is well known for her other two series - Constable Evans and Molly Murphy. Lady Georgiana is charming and delightfully witty. As is the norm with the cozy genre the true attraction is the subplots involving Georgie's personal life, particularly her romance with the Darcy rather than the mystery aspect although there are more than a few interesting twists and turns on that front as well. Readers new to the series might be better off to begin with HER ROYAL SPYNESS as there are many references to the events of that novel, but it is quite possible to enjoy this one on it's own merits.
Rated by buyers -
I loved reading this book. It has charm and it's witty! I want her subsequent book!
Rated by buyers -
An absolutely delightful cozy British mystery with a historical twist to it! The author weaves the historical and the fictional with such ease. You will definitely think you "are there!" For any Anglophile mystery reader, this book is a must!! ENJOY!!
Rated by buyers -
I enjoyed the second installment this series. It is a fun, light read with some interesting period details.
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Sure, Georgiana Rannoch is the second cousin of King George V and thus in line for the crown (she only has 33 royals ahead of her), but she is also flat broke. Of course, it is the 1930s and a depression is in full swing in England. Georgie is so poor that she disguises herself to work as a maid and worries that the queen will send her out to the country to serve as Queen Victoria's daughter's lady-in-waiting, where she will have to walk the Pekinese and hold knitting yarn. Another horrid fate beckons to her in the form of marriage to discreetly gay Romanian Prince Siegfried. Compared to those possible futures, her life as a penniless maid is rather pleasurable.
Georgie's friend, Belinda, leads quite a different existence --- one filled with yachts, parties, new clothes and many dalliances with men. Belinda insists on dressing Georgie in some of her own finery so they can lunch at the Savoy. There, Belinda bemoans the fact that Georgie's love interest, Darcy O'Mara, has somehow vanished from her life. She also introduces her friend to some lively young gentlemen who invite them to an upcoming party.
Queen Mary summons Georgie to Buckingham Palace for tea. Over shared éclairs, the queen confides her worries over her son, the Prince of Wales. Instead of being interested in an appropriate young royal, the prince is enchanted with the unsuitable Wallace Simpson, who is not only an American commoner but is married. The queen has hatched a plan. She will invite a young Bavarian princess, Princess Hannelore, to visit, with the hope of diverting the Prince of Wales's romantic intentions. However, she doesn't want the prince to realize that he's being set up, so the queen has decided that the princess will stay with Georgie.
Georgie is floored. She can't say no to the queen, and yet her house is hardly suitable to entertain royalty. She has no servants, is living on toast and baked beans, and must go out to work. How ever will she cope? Happily, the one relative Georgie has been able to depend upon comes through for her. Her grandfather and his lady friend agree to pose as servants.
Her problems are far from over, as Georgie realizes when Princess Hanni arrives with her maid and companion. Hanni is trouble. She not only is a fan of American gangster movies, she actually talks like an American gangster. She also has a bit of a shoplifting problem, loves parties, and throws herself at any available young man (including Georgie's lost love, Darcy O'Mara). Yet, that is just the beginning. When one person ends up dead, it appears to be an accident...but when the corpses keep accumulating, the queen again calls upon Georgie, requesting that she act as a detective.
This second book in the Royal Spyness Mystery series is not only an entertaining romp of a mystery with a feisty and unique heroine but is also a fascinating glimpse into England between world wars and a comical peek backward at life in British upper classes. Many mystery lovers are no doubt familiar with award-winning author Rhys Bowen. Others will be ecstatic to discover her, introduced by the utterly smashing Lady Georgiana.
--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
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