Her Royal Spyness

I laugh out loud at the awkward social situations Lady Georgina, 34th in succession to the throne of England, gets into.

Although she has been trained in all the proper graces, she is impoverished, and I find her creative, muddled attempts to figure out who murdered the body in her bathtub while meeting royal expectations endearing and amusing. I also enjoy glimpses into the mores of the royal family in 1930. 

Who wouldn’t love a fun book about royals and murder?

Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, Georgie for short, is waaay down the line of people to inherit, 34th in the queue, to be precise. And she’s flat broke. Thrown out of the Scotland castle that is her childhood home by her greedy sister-in-law, Georgie cleans homes in secret to earn a bit of money.

Things are just beginning to look up when she finds a dead Frenchman in her bathtub! If being suspected of murder is not enough, she’s also been given a job by the Queen to spy on… show more.

This is a romp, no other word for it.

Lady Georgie is way down the list of heirs to the throne of England in the early 1930s. She is also flat broke and desperate for some way to earn money, with opportunities limited by her title and lineage. An Honorable can’t just wait tables in a tea shop!

Then Queen Mary asks her to spy on the Prince of Wales, who seems to be getting much too close to an American woman named Wallis Simpson. I do love it when real people wander into fiction! And these particular people—wow!

The… show more.

This gloriously comic 1920s mystery series is a favorite because the endearing protagonist is in the ludicrous position of really poor little rich girl. Despite royal blood, Lady Georgiana Rannoch has no money. Being 34th in line to the throne means she is not allowed to get a job. With the only option of marrying a dreadful prince, she struggles in abject poverty in an unheated London mansion. A most unlikely person transforms her fate, the Queen of England. She engages Georgie to spy on her difficult son and heir. Meanwhile Georgie’s half-brother Binky might lose the family castle… show more.

Rhys Bowen’s humorous cozy/whodunit takes place before the second world war. The protagonist is a poor royal who is 34th in line for the English throne. Lady Georgiana is ousted from the family home. We see her struggling with everyday life in London, which she is ill-prepared for. But always with humour. Rhys brings the time in England before the war, alive. This whodunit is a ‘mad cap’ read, just my cup of tea.

The Royal Spyness series is a cross between Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence and Nancy Mitford. It’s set in the 1930s and stars Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch. Lady “Georgie” is 34th in line to the throne. When her allowance is cut off she is forced to earn her own money … with disastrous – and deadly – results.