Royal Blood (A Royal Spyness Mystery) [Hardcover]

Rhys Bowen (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Royal Spyness Mystery | Publication Date: September 7, 2010

The Royal Spyness series continues with an all-new mystery of "the British monarchy...a wedding in Transylvania...[and] wonderful characters." (#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris).

Penniless and thirty-fourth in line to the throne, Lady Georgiana Rannoch finds herself in a truly draining state of affairs. To escape her hateful brother, Georgie accepts an invitation from the Queen to represent the royals at a wedding in Transylvania. But at the macabre- looking castle, Georgie finds the bride with blood running down her chin, and a wedding guest is poisoned. Now it's up to Georgie to save the nuptial festivities before the couple's vows become: to love and to cherish, till undeath do them part...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Agatha-winner Bowen successfully mixes Wodehousian farce with a whodunit plot in her fourth 1930s mystery starring Lady Georgiana Rannoch (after 2009's Royal Flush). When the queen asks Georgiana, a distant relative of George V, to attend the wedding of a royal cousin and old schoolmate, Princess Maria Theresa, in Romania, the impoverished 22-year-old must scramble to come up with a maid to maintain appearances. She ends up with Queenie Hepplewhite, a clumsy if well-meaning servant who lost a previous job after setting fire to her mistress's clothing. Once in Romania, the pair find themselves in the midst of a sensitive murder case at the remote castle where the nuptials are to take place. Field Marshal Pirin, head of the Bulgarian army and a close adviser to his country's king, collapses during a festive meal and is later found to have been poisoned. Bowen once again demonstrates her mastery of the light, romantic mystery.
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From Booklist

In this fourth Royal Spyness mystery, penniless Lady Georgiana Rannoch desperately seeks escape from both London and her dreadful relatives. Rescue comes from the queen, who asks Georgie to attend a royal wedding in Transylvania. Georgie is the thirty-fourth person in line for the English throne, but she’s also an old schoolmate of the bride, Princess Maria Theresa of Romania. Georgie hires a young, inexperienced Cockney woman to be her maid; meets her overbearing traveling companion, Lady Middlesex, along with Miss Deer-Harte; and they all hie off to Transylvania. Once they’re at the old castle, a mystery man vexes Georgie (Could he be a vampire?); then the vulgar Bulgarian field marshal Pirin drops dead at dinner. Georgie, her erstwhile beau Darcy O’Mara, and bridegroom Prince Nicholas must solve the mystery or risk an international incident. Georgie also has to deal with Maria Theresa’s brother, Prince Siegfried, who has decided Georgie would be an ideal wife. Bowen keeps the mystery light and humorous, but the discerning reader will note the social problems underlying Georgie’s breezy narrative. --Kat Kan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (September 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425234460
• ISBN-13: 978-0425234464
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rhys Bowen's books have been nominated for every major mystery award and she has won thirteen of them to date. She currently writes two historical mystery series, each very different in tone. The Molly Murphy mysteries feature an Irish immigrant woman in turn-of-the-century New York City. These books are multi-layered, complex stories with a strong sense of time and place and have won many awards including Agatha and Anthony. There are 10 book so far in this series plus the free Kindle story, The Amersham Rubies--a great way to introduce new readers to Molly's spunky personality.

Then there is Lady Georgie, Rhys's latest,and very popular, heroine. She's 34th in line to the throne of England, but she's flat broke and struggling to survive in the Great Depression. These books are lighter and funnier than Molly's adventures. They poke gentle fun at the British class system--about which Rhys knonws a lot, having married into an upper class family rather like Georgie's, with cousins with silly nicknames,family ghosts and stately homes. The fifth book, Naughty in Nice, is in stores now, and watch out for a big Christmas book in time for the 2012 holidays.
This year the series received the Readers Hoice Award for favorite mystery series.

Rhys was born in Bath, England and spent a lot of time growing up in Wales with her Welsh relatives. Those childhood experiences colored her first mystery series, about Constable Evans in the mountains of Snowdonia. 10 books including the Edgar nominee Evan's Gate. She has lived in Austria, Germany and Australia, but has called California her home for many years. She now escapes to a condo in Arizona during those cold California winters. When she's not writing she loves to travel, sing, hike and play the Celtic harp.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Royal Blood" oozes with intrigue, September 7, 2010

By 

Novel Chatter (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Blood (A Royal Spyness Mystery) (Hardcover)

The last thing her Ladyship expected to see while peering into the dark, Transylvanian night was some "thing" or some "one" climbing up Bran Castle wall.

Such are the things that tend to happen to poor Lady Georgiana Rannoch. She's twenty-two, "depressedly" single, and thirty-fourth in line to the British throne. The King is her second cousin, and his wife, Her Majesty Queen Mary, loves to give Georgie little tasks. Most recently, she dispatched Georgie to keep tabs on the Prince of Wales' new American lady friend. Prior to that, Her Majesty put Georgie in charge of a visiting German princess with a fondness for shoplifting and American gangster slang.

This time Queen Mary appointed Lady Georgiana to represent the Royal family at the wedding of Georgie's old school mate, Princess Maria Theresa of Romania, to Prince Nicholas of Bulgaria. Adding to the atmosphere of the royal wedding is its location, the dark and dreary Castle Bran, Transylvania, purported home to vampires and werewolves. And then there's Prince Seigfried, whom Georgiana unceremoniously dumped earlier in the year, ensconced in the bedroom right next to hers.

In Royal Blood, the highly anticipated fourth book in author Rhys Bowen's "Royal Spyness" series, we find Lady Georgiana in the middle of another murder, and this time a mysterious vial is found in her room. Everyone is snowed in, the pass is closed, and there are no tracks leading from the castle. Just who is trying to frame Lady Georgiana and why?

Among the supporting cast of players in Royal Blood are many familiar faces in this series: Georgie's trusty bed-hopping best friend, Belinda Warburton-Stokes, Georgie's brother Binky, the current duke, and his tiresome, penny pinching wife Fig. As always, the mysterious and handsome Darcy O'Mara pops up at just the right moment! New additions to the mix are: Georgie's royal traveling companion Lady Middlesex, Queenie Hepplewhite her bumbling new maid, and a mysteriously dark butler named Dragomir.

Let me be honest, I love this series and was somewhat apprehensive about reviewing Royal Blood. Often times, at this point in a series, the plot and characters can become flat and repetitive. Not so in Rhys Bowen's latest! Quite the opposite, the characters remain fresh and interesting. The plot is crisp, and the turns are sharp and deadly. Ms. Bowen wisely gives the reader just enough information about the history of the players to allow a first time reader to feel right at home in Castle Bran. Rhys Bowen has written another brilliant, not-to-be-missed addition to this well loved series.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Yet!!!!, September 20, 2010

By 

Kentucky Rose (Lexington, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Blood (A Royal Spyness Mystery) (Hardcover)

Rhys Bowen turns out a superb who-done-it in this new addition to the series. A definite can't miss. New characters add sparkle and life. Lots of intrigue and danger with great escapes. Not a book to put down lightly once you start to read it. Now the important question is - when is the next book in the series coming out? Can't wait!!!!!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Transylvanian Adventure, December 13, 2010

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Royal Blood (A Royal Spyness Mystery) (Hardcover)

For anyone who likes cozies, with a little mystery thrown in, a Royal Spyness Mystery is right up his or her alley. In a change of scenery, Lady Georgiana is asked to travel from London to the Castle Bran in Romania's Transylvania to represent the Crown at the wedding of the Princess Maria Theresa and the Bulgarian Prince Nicholas. It seems Georgiana went to school with the princess, who had specifically asked for her friend to be a bridesmaid.

Yes, that's the castle reputed to be Dracula's, giving us the opportunity to anticipate vampires, werewolves and the like, and amusement, along with royal shenanigans, sex [both requited (friend Belinda) and unrequited (Georgiana)], and other assorted goings-on. The mystery is the apparent murder by poison of the head of the Bulgarian armed forces and a favorite of the king, possibly a cause of another Balkan war.

There are some cute moments in the novel, although the formula is becoming somewhat wearisome. Georgie's love life (or lack thereof) is becoming a little boring, while Belinda's is, of course, predictable. As for Georgie's ability to solve crimes, it is more like stumbling into situations that seem to be resolved while she is present. The writing moves the story along apace, and the 1930's royal atmosphere is interesting. The novel is recommended for readers, and they are many, who appreciate the genre.