Her Royal Spyness - Review

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Her Royal Spyness
​​#1 in Series
​​by Rhys Bowen
​​Release date 7/3/2007
​​324 pages
​​5 out of 5 stars


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​​According to the publisher, “Georgie,aka Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, cousin of King George V of England, is penniless and trying to survive on her own as an ordinary person in London in 1932.
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​​So far she has managed to light a fire and boil an egg... She's gate-crashed a wedding... She's making money by secretly cleaning houses... And she's been asked to spy for Her Majesty the Queen.
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​​Everything seems to be going swimmingly until she finds a body in her bathtub... and someone is definitely trying to kill her.”
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​​Her Royal Spyness is the first of 13 (!!!)books in a cozy mystery series, all featuring Lady Georgiana, who is an ancillary member of the royal family  forced to live like a commoner (thehorror!) due to financial hardships.  If you aren’t familiar with cozy mysteries, they can be described as a mystery with minimal sex and violence, and are usually pretty funny.  Rhys Bowen is one of the more well-known authors in this specific genre and, in my opinion, she is a great starting point if you want to try something new!
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​​I really enjoyed this book!  It is a mystery, but it’s also extremely funny in a non-obvious, British sort of way.  I found myself reading certain passages over again because I would often realize I read a joke without totally realizing it, and went back to appreciate the humor. 
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​​There is a pretty large cast of characters, with many of them well-developed and nearly all of them very likeable.  Lady Georgiana is an extremely unlikely sleuth and hero, but you will find yourself instantly rooting for her and wanting to know more about her and the rest of her wonderfully odd friends.
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​​The plot is extremely enjoyable.  It’s fast-paced, in that the book draws you in quickly and is very easy to get through, but it doesn’t have the element of stress that many more thriller-type mysteries impose on the reader.  The mystery itself is also done really well; you’ll come up with multiple theories throughout the book, but I have a feeling you’ll still be surprised at the ending!
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​​Another element of the author’s writing that I especially enjoyed was the seamless blending of fact and fiction.  While Lady Georgiana and her mysteries are clearly fiction, real people such as Queen Victoria and Wallis Simpson are often involved in the different shenanigans.  
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​​I don’t want to go into too much more detail about the plot because I don’t want to chance giving anything away, but I do highly recommend this book!  If you like mysteries, or are just looking for a lighter book for the summer, this is a great choice!
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