A Royal Pain (Her Royal Spyness)

I bought this book anticipating a clever and somewhat humorous visit to the British "poor-astocracy". Yes, you have a protagonist who sets out on her own, visits with the insular queen, and so forth. The thing that put me off these books, and I bought two before I decided that was enough, was the sexual exploits of the minor characters. I can't quite believe that there weren't any moral hesitations. Either the author has reinvented the era to fit "modern" expectations or the upper crust was degenerate and perverse. The protagonist and secondary characters were just not engaging enough to spend any more time with. In fact I deleted this book from my kindle.

This second book seems to have less depth the first. Georgie is not quite as flighty or clumsy. But she does appear to know a little something about royal deportment, which has very little to do with the plot. This light reading is perfect for vacation time you really want something that will lightly hold your interest but give you no heavy dreams at night. The characters are likable if not completely believable.

I'm just finishing this uneven read before moving on to Bowen's Molly Murphy's latest adventure which I vastly prefer. How or why the other reviewers give A Royal Pain such high stars baffles me. While Georgie is a winning character who's life is fun and full of adventure, the whole plot and writing was mediocre - a page turner without thinking too much - or caring, for that matter. I enjoyed the intro book to this series: Her Royal Spyness far more.
For other options read Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series to slow down and digest a period and it's characters. I used to enjoy M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin and Hamish MacBeth series...although Beaton has allowed her characters to run out of steam as of late (they just stay in romantic limbo and the plots aren't much) but I enjoy the new Marion Chesney (Beaton) Edwardian Murder mysteries (5 books so far?) Victoria Thompson also has a wonderful series The Gaslight Mysteries set in Victorian era New York. And for "english light" set in the 20's there's Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple mysteries.

Sometimes I have a difficult time judging a book on its own merit. Perhaps I've read an incredible work before hand, or I forget what genre I'm reading. Part of me wonders if that is the problem I had with "A Royal Pain" - I'd not only finished something amazing before starting this one, but the book in question was deep and philosophical and, let's be honest: this series is not. It's one of the reasons I chose to read this one; I felt I needed something a bit lighter after all the drama. But I found myself somewhat reluctant to pick it up.

"A Royal Pain" is the second installment of Rhys Bowens' Royal Spyness mystery series. Lady Georgiana is a cousin to the King of England, and in line for the throne herself. Her father squandered the family's fortune, so she has moved to London to try and make a way for herself. Without monetary support from her brother, Binky, she has decided to open houses for aristocrats, working undercover as a maid so her friends don't find out what she's up to. Since no one knows, Her Majesty the Queen feels no shame in asking Georgie to babysit Princess Hannelore of Bavaria. Hanni is young, just out of school, and would be a perfect match for the Prince of Wales, who unfortunately is smitten with Wallis Simpson. In an effort to re-direct her son's attentions, the Queen brings Hanni to England and asks Georgie to entertain her and put her in David's way so he can be attracted by her beauty.

Unfortunately, Hanni is anything but cooperative. Just out of school means that - she's never been out in the real world. Convinced that speaking English is exactly like it is in American gangster films, Hanni is not only uncouth, but she is also dangerous. She is eager to spend money she does not have, spend time with unsuitable men, and attend parties that are less-than-royal. But when several bodies begin to turn up since her arrival, Georgie becomes more concerned. Who is killing these men? What does Hanni have to do with it? And how can she support a naïve princess without going broke?

Rhys Bowen's book continues with the delightful characters we met the first time around - including Georgie's policeman grandfather - and introduces some newer ones as well. But there was just something lacking in this book. I didn't find it as entertaining as I had the first. Perhaps it was a blip on the radar, or perhaps it was my own mindset. But I definitely preferred the first of the series.

"Saturday, June 11, 1932
Diary,
German princess arrives today. Sense impending doom."
But what actually ensues is another madcap adventure for the charming Lady Georgiana Rannoch. Tasked by the Queen to entertain the decidedly odd princess, Georgie must do so while struggling to make a living and keep up appearances. Being a minor royal does not, alas, come with the funds necessary to do either. And Georgie also has an unfortunate habit of stumbling across dead bodies and dark plots, complicating her life even further. But she gets by with a lot of help from her friends, the man-hungry Belinda and the "unreliable rogue" Darcy O'Mara, who describes himself as her "guardian angel." Her sweet and solid ex-copper granddad and his redoubtable neighbor, Mrs. Huggins, also lend a hand as Georgie copes with the princess, a chaotic personal life, and the mysteries and murders around her.
Rhys Bowen's prose positively sparkles. I found myself reading sentences over again just for the sheer pleasure of the words. The book is both fun and funny, and while it may be classified as a "cozy", it doesn't ignore the real world. Soup kitchens, ordinary people dealing with privation, and blackshirts clashing with communists are mixed in with the often frivolous lifestyles of the upper crust. It is interesting to me to see Georgie's awareness of class disparity being challenged. I would like to see this developed in the future. I also long to know more about the intriguing Mr. O'Mara-there is a tantalizing twist to his character in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Bowen's Constable Evans series, but I think I may have to take my heart out of his hands and give it to the delectable Darcy!
I loved this book. After all, I met Noel Coward, the King and Queen of England, the ghastly Wallis Simpson, and a colorful array of fictional characters. I can definitely see these books as a television series. They remind me of P.G. Wodehouse but they have an element of Dorothy Sayers as well, especially Clouds of Witness and Murder Must Advertise. Anyone who can evoke those two writers is a must-read in my book!

This is the second in Bowen's most recent mystery series and it's not bad -- as long as you're not expecting hard-boiled, noir, shoot-outs, car chases, or the Mafia. Lady Georgiana of Rannoch is the half-sister of a duke and while she has the Swiss private school education and the social contacts, she has barely a pound to her name. Not being willing to put up with her in-laws at the castle in Scotland, she's trying to get by on her own and servantless in London. Now it's the summer of 1932 and her cousin by marriage, Queen Mary, has been trying to use her as an agent provocateur in her efforts to pry the Prince of Wales away from Mrs. Simpson. Usefully, a young and extremely pretty Bavarian princess just out of the convent is being sent to visit England and the queen has hopes David might find her of interest, if they can only be gotten together, and Georgie is asked to take the girl under her wing. And she's willing but it all costs money she doesn't have. Still, one doesn't say "No" to the queen, so she recruits her old grandfather (the non-royal one with the Cockney accent) and one of his neighbors as her temporary butler and cook, and she hires a local maid, all with the help of a small stipend from her brother. The princess is boy-crazy, has a thing for American gangster films, and isn't interested in "old stuff," so Georgie quickly has her hands full. And then they meet a young, personable communist organizer. And they attend an extremely modern jazz party where one of Georgiana's set is killed in an apparent tragic accident. And then things begin to get complicated.

There's a lot a slightly dry humor here, mostly having to do with Georgiana's native intelligence and her intense dislike of the American Woman, and her own genteel poverty (and having to lay her own fires and fix her own meals) is making her much aware of the non-aristocratic world of Britain. The mystery itself is somewhat lightweight, Georgie's success in solving it depending more on being in the right place at the right time and overhearing the right conversations than her use of the little gray cells. However, the several murders that take place are really almost an excuse to spin a yarn about an interesting young upper-class woman in Britain between the wars, and in that it succeeds quite well.

A Royal Historical Mystery with Plots, Suspense and Murders of course. Communist assassins, German Princess, and many amusing characters including a very snooty Wallis Simpson. I should probably try to read this series in order but so far it hasn’t mattered at all. Each book has been exceptional with the reappearance of the supporting main characters. I just can’t read fast enough unfortunately sleep is necessary.

Lady Georgiana - Georgie to her friends - thirty fourth in line to the throne, finds herself landed with an uninvited guest. Princess Hannelore of Bavaria has come to England because Queen Mary is trying to find a suitable bride for her eldest son, David, who is much more interested in the sophisticated, mature and married Wallis Simpson.

Georgie is asked to have Hannelore and her entourage to stay and knows she cannot refuse a request from the Queen even though she has no money and has to try and earn her own living. This is the England of the nineteen thirties and people are interested in politics with the Communist Party holding meetings and Mosley's Black Shirts also attracting members.

When Prince Hanni is attracted to a Communist Georgie is led into dangerous situations and two deaths make her start to question what is really going on. There are amusing incidents and an interesting mystery to keep you reading as well as some intriguing characters; Georgie herself, the glamorous Darcy who always seems to be there when needed and the various members of Scotland Yard who are trying to investigate the suspicious deaths which seem to congregate around Georgie wherever she goes.

I enjoyed this book and liked Georgie as a character. It is the second one in a series - the first one being - Her Royal Spyness but the stories can be read out of order as they stand alone. If you like Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple, Kerry Greenwood's Phrynne Fisher, or David Roberts' Edward Corinth and Verity Browne series then you may enjoy Rhys Bowen's Lady Georgiana books.

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Rhys Bowen gives us another humorous "cozy" in A Royal Pain. The main character is Lady Georgiana (Georgie) Rannoch, 34th in line for the British crown, who is penniless and must support herself during the depression of the 1930s. In this tale Lady Georgie is tasked by the Queen to host a visiting German Princess. Of course, Georgie is to play cupid between the Princess and England's Royal heir, who has been dating a married American woman.

Georgie becomes a bit depressed. She is impoverished, has no servants or staff, and the cupboards are bare. Since one does not question the Queen, Georgie must solve all these problems and meet the Princess at the boat in two days.

This cozy comedy does have mystery. One of Georgie's friends fall off a balcony while drunk and dies at a party she and the Princess attended. A new acquaintance of the Princess invites her to the bookstore where he works and they find him dead. The police do not believe in coincidences and label the Princess as a suspect. The Queen, upon learning about the situation, commissions Georgie to solve the mysteries (which upsets the police).

This book is a comical diverting tale. Many scenes are humorous and others are entertaining because go the sophisticated repartee.

I recommend this novel for those who like a good cozy and those who want to spend an entertaining evening reading a fun book.

Two quibbles with the book:

1: that the royal family (esp. Queen Mary) would not know what a candidate for queen looks like - if not outright know her;

2: that they would even consider a Roman Catholic (it was, and probably still is, illegal you know)

Having said that this was a fun book -- at times laugh out loud funny, and at others suspenseful -- and although I suspected how it would end up, I wasn't proven right until almost the end. I'm looking forward to the next entry.

Lady Georgiana, thirty-fourth in line for the throne, has been doing rather well for herself in 1932 London. She has managed to keep her secret job as a maid from the others of her social set and is even developing a few domestic skills of her own. She just might be able to pull off living on her own.

Unfortunately, things are about to get sticky. Her Majesty has agreed to host the Bavarian Princess in hopes that this beauty will catch the Crown Prince's eye. And the Queen thinks that Georgie is the perfect person to host Princess "Hanni." Suddenly, Georgie must find a way to hire servants with no money. After all, one doesn't say no to the Queen.

But things only get worse when Hanni arrives. She has learned her English by watching American gangster films. Her companion is an awful Baroness. And wherever Hanni goes, trouble follows. And that's before the first body appears. But the potential political implications of the murder could set the uneasy balance in Europe spinning into another war. Can Georgie solve the crime without starting World War II?

This book is equal parts historical novel, comedy, and mystery, and if read that way, it is a pure delight. There are so many funny scenes in the first half of the book. In fact, I had to stifle some laughs when I was reading in public. While there are some strange questions early, the mystery portion doesn't get going fully until the second half, but I was never bored getting there. Once it does get going, it becomes a good puzzle. I caught a few things long before Georgie, but I would never have pieced the solution together. The book is filled with memorable characters who are strong. It was a delight to spend time with them.

There is nothing painful about this book or series. So be sure to catch up with Georgie's latest adventures.

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

Rhys Bowen has definitely got something here, with Lady Georgiana Rannoch, her newest and very blue-blooded sleuth. And, with apologies to Constable Evans and Molly Murphy, Georgie is fast becoming my favorite Bowen protagonist. A ROYAL PAIN happens to be the winning sequel to Her Royal Spyness (A Royal Spyness Mystery) as it sinks Georgie in an even more perilous adventure.

It's 1932, London, and there's a Depression on, affecting not only the common masses but the nobility as well. But Lady Georgiana Rannoch isn't your conventional impoverished royal. To support herself, she'd earlier established a domestic agency which provides light cleaning service, with her as the sole employee. But Georgie has to keep her new vocation on the sly; it simply wouldn't do to be found out, what with her being 34th in line to the throne and all.

Rank has its priveleges... and its duties. Queen Mary means to pry her son, the young Prince of Wales, from the influence of an unscrupulous American seductress. Georgie is tasked with hosting and chaperoning the Bavarian Princess Hannelore, who is just out of the convent and newly arrived to London. Georgie is encouraged by the Queen to take her new houseguest and mingle with the smart set, with the hope that the gorgeous princess might turn the Prince's head. Georgie promptly finds out that Hannelore (or Hanni) is a handful, like "looking after a naughty puppy." Hanni, it seems, had picked up her very unsuitable English from watching American gangster films (her first words to Georgie is "Hiya, doll."). Soon, Georgie is busy coaching Hanni in proper English and averting shoplifting disasters, not to mention tempering the Princess's desire to enter the world of dating and, alarmingly, the world of communism (there's this nice looking communist boy, you see...).

You get so enwrapped in Georgie and Hanni's comic misadventures that you tend to forget that this book is also a cozy mystery. But, then, the stabbed corpse in the bookshop turns up.

To make things worse, Hanni is now supplementing her gangster slang with Cockney vernacular, thanks to Georgie's hastily improvised household of servants, comprised of her commoner grandfather and his lady friend.

I happen to think that Lady Georgiana is Rhys Bowen's best creation yet. Born to privelege but broke as hell, yet with the backbone to do something about it, Georgie is simply an awesome heroine. Tall and clumsy, intelligent yet vulnerably reserved, and constantly upholding the Rannoch ideals, is Georgie. That she also solves mysteries is almost an incidental bonus. A key part in making her so ingratiating is her relationship with her salt-of-the-earth Cockney grandfather, an ex-policeman and Georgie's favorite person in the world. He does come in handy when murder's in the air. Also back is the appealing Belinda, Georgie's gregarious best friend.

Rhys Bowen hasn't let her readers down yet, and that trend continues with A ROYAL PAIN. Her smooth writing style makes her readers feel instantly welcome and at ease. There's more depth to this sequel, as Bowen plants Georgie even more firmly in her 1930s historical backdrop. Not only does Georgie continue to bump into her old school chums and social peers, but she rubs elbows with common Londoners and is exposed to some of the political climate of the times. Back then, violent outbreaks between the communist party and the fascist Blackshirts were common occurences. And, yes, Georgie and Hanni get caught in the middle of one such brawl. But fans of the first book shouldn't fret, as Bowen still infuses the novel with tons of drawing room farce and outrageous upper class scandals. The dashing if dubious Darcy O'Mara returns to make things interesting for Georgie, but it seems he's got an eye for the princess. Just another thing for Georgie to worry about.

A ROYAL PAIN just whets my appetite for more sightings of Lady Georgiana and of her friends and her wonderful granda. Me, I happen to like mysteries, and I'm telling you, Georgie is such an appealing character that I wouldn't even mind if there weren't mysteries for her to solve. Rhys Bowen is that good a writer.