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...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32987 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
To make ends meet, slightly impoverished but well-connected Lady Georgiana Rannoch takes on house-cleaning jobs in disguise in Agatha-winner Bowen's enchanting second mystery set in 1930s England (after 2007's Her Royal Spyness). A tea invitation from the queen, however, sets her on a new mission. Georgiana must house and chaperone a young Bavarian princess the queen hopes to set up with the prince of Wales, thus diverting his attention from his current American love interest. The princess proves to be quite a handful, naïve and addicted to slang. Invitations to the palace, country house weekends and swinging parties are provided for her amusement. When a series of unfortunate deaths arouses Georgiana's suspicions, she launches an investigation that culminates in a startlingly bloody conclusion. Fans will welcome the return of this spunky heroine, 34th in line to the British throne. (July)
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From Booklist
Readers first met impoverished Lady Georgiana when she cleared her brother of a murder charge in Her Royal Spyness (2007), set in 1930s London. Georgiana is now summoned to the palace of her distant relation, the Queen of England, who wants Georgiana to play hostess to a visiting German princess, Hannelore, whom she hopes will catch the eye of the Prince of Wales and distract him from his dalliance with Mrs. Simpson. Georgiana reluctantly agrees, getting her grandfather and his neighbor to impersonate servants. When Hannelore arrives, she proves a handful, spouting phrases from American gangster movies and setting her sights on Darcy O’Mara, the one man who makes Georgiana’s heart leap. To make matters worse, Hannelore expresses interest in the Communist Party and arranges to meet one of the members in a bookshop. Georgiana accompanies Hannelore on the assignation only to have the princess discover the young man’s corpse. A delectable mystery with vibrant characters and a bit of romance, Bowen’s latest is a rollicking good read. --Kristine Huntley

Review
"All the characters from the first book in this rollicking series are present here -Georgie's much-married actress mother, her kind-hearted and resourceful Cockney grandfather, her sophisticated friend Belinda and the enigmatic Darcy O'Mara, a penniless Irish peer to whom Georgie finds herself attracted.There are also fleeting references to the war clouds that are gathering in Europe and the rise of fascism at home and abroad, both of which are neatly tied in with the murders and their solution. It works - both as a grand period piece and a lighthearted and completely diverting mystery."
—The Denver Post

“To make ends meet, slightly impoverished but well-connected Lady Georgiana Rannoch takes on house-cleaning jobs in disguise in Agatha-winner Bowen's enchanting second mystery set in 1930s England (after 2007's Her Royal Spyness). A tea invitation from the queen, however, sets her on a new mission. Georgiana must house and chaper-one a young Bavarian princess the queen hopes to set up with the prince of Wales, thus diverting his attention from his current American love interest. The princess proves to be quite a handful, naïve and addicted to slang. Invitations to the palace, country house weekends and swinging parties are provided for her amusement. When a series of unfortunate deaths arouses Georgiana's suspicions, she launches an investigation that culminates in a startlingly bloody conclusion. Fans will welcome the return of this spunky heroine, 34th in line to the British throne.
—Publishers Weekly

A royal relative turns sleuth when murder haunts her household.

Lady Georgiana Rannoch, who lives in her impoverished brother's London house, survives by doing occasional light cleaning jobs. Although dead broke, she is 34th in line to the throne and at the beck and call of the Queen, who's thought up a scheme to scuttle the highly unsuitable romance between her son David and the married American Wallis Simpson. The Queen asks Georgie to host the lovely young Bavarian Princess, known by her friends as Hanni, as well as her escort Baroness Rottenmeister and their maid. Having no money or servants, Georgie calls on her grandfather and his neighbor to act as butler and cook. Hanni turns out to be a lively young miss with an American accent acquired from watching gangster movies and a bent for unsuitable young men, shoplifting and wild parties. At an aristocratic bash whose guest list includes the Prince of Wales, Mrs. Simpson and Georgie's actress mother, a young man is killed in a fall from a balcony. Georgie and Hanni are escorted away by Georgie's love interest, sexy Irishman Darcy O'Mara (Her Royal Spyness, 2007). As Georgie attempts to keep Hanni out of trouble, more murders follow. Nothing daunted, Georgie works to discover if the cause is a Communist or Fascist plot or something even more sinister. A pre-World War II mystery with a touch of romance that adds another winner to Bowen's accomplishments.
—Kirkus Reviews

Customer Reviews

A Royally Fun Mix of Comedy and Mystery
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.

ANOTHER HILARIOUS OFFERING
This is the second offering which appears to becoming a series, which is a good thing for readers of this particular genre, as they are quite good. I loved the author's first offering Her Royal Spyness and found this second work, A Royal Pain, to be even better than the first. This is actually pretty impressive as I felt the first book lacked little.

The story takes place (for the most part) in pre World War II in the 1030s. Trouble is brewing from the young upstart ruler in Germany and the Communist Party is in full cry in England and else where. Our heroine, Lady Georgiana Rannoch is still down and out, having been kick out of the family castle by a troublesome brother and sister-in-law has no means of support and is living in the families' rather rundown London Townhouse. This novel is a bit different in that Lady Georgiana has at least learned to boil water in this latest offering. Due to very limited funds, (well, actually she is flat broke) although she is still well connected with the upper crust of English Society of the time, she must make her own way. Being somewhat enterprising, she opens her own maid service, a service in which she is the only employee. Between trying to keep her upper crust front, she dashes around madly incognito, cleaning and caring for other people's homes. Many of the same characters that we met in the first novel are present, which is good as they were charming characters, and we are introduced to several new ones.

In this little mystery, she is again asked by the Queen (Georgiana is about number 36 in the line of secession) to do a job for her. It is either that or be sent off to the country to act as a lady in waiting for some elderly relative. This time she is asked to keep track of a very spoiled and young Bavarian princess who has just been released from a convent. The Queen wants the young German Princes to marry her son and keep him from marrying that awful American Divorcee before he takes the crown. Of course it does not take long for our young "main" to become involved in international politics and of course murders; murders she must solve and solve fast.

To be honest, this novel, like the first, is absolutely hilarious. The messes Lady Georgiana gets into, most of which are not of her making, are, while believable, are most embarrassing to both her and the Crown. The author is a master at crating characters and the development of these characters is strong. You hate to over use the term "page turner" but that is the best way to describe this book. The story is mellow and easy to follow while at the same time it holds the reader's interest page after page. It examines the English social system of the times and is completely filled with rather cutting remarks.

For a funny, fast and entertaining read it would be difficult to find a better choice. Lets hope there are more of this series coming down the road.

Her Royal Spyness (A Royal Spyness Mystery)

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Fabulous cozy mystery with royalty and romance
My next tag is personal favorite, and I chose A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen. Rhys Bowen is not only one of my favorite authors, but Lady Georgiana is one of my favorite characters as well. Lady Georige, 34th in line to the English throne in 1932, is still working secretly as a maid in order to pay for the daily necessities when the Queen asks her (and you never say no to the Queen) to house and escort Princess Hanni of Bavaria around town in hopes that she will distract the Prince of Wales from his obsession with "that American woman". But Georgie is not only broke, but living without servants! Her maternal grandfather and his next door neighbor step in as butler and housekeeper when the flighty Princess and her entourage arrive. Princess Hanni has learned to speak English from American gangster films, wants to meet "hot and sexy men", and shoplifts from Herrod's. Georgie's hands are more than full, when people start dropping dead around her, and she needs to discover who's murdering them in order to avert an international incident! Georgie is absolutely charming. She hasn't a clue how to flirt, and regularly trips over her own feet. She's sincere and loyal, and remarkably innocent, but she's learning to acquire some backbone (especially in dealing with Wallis Simpson). Bowen writes a bit like a fun tabloid tell-all; you feel like you're getting a sneak peek behind palace walls, but as seen through the eyes of an outsider/insider. Georgie is a unique character, and I simply can't wait for her next adventure. I give the book 5 stars.