“They don't hang dukes, darling. He'd be let off by reason of insanity. Everyone knows the upper classes are batty.”

When I was down in Seattle with my mom this past December, I had the good fortune to visit a fabulous bookshop, the Seattle Mystery Bookshop!  If you get the chance to visit I do recommend it! Full of fantastic finds and knowledgable staff, it was just lovely! I plan on getting lost in there again on my next visit.

The best thing I took away from my visit was the complete (at the time) set of Rhys Bowen's Royal Spyness Mysteries.  One of my favourite authors, Lauren Willig, recommended this series awhile back on her blog and it had been on my to read list for some time.  Upon finding a complete autographed set of all 5 books (there has since been a 6th novel published) I knew we must be together and my lovely mom bought them for me as an early Christmas present.  Hurray!

I read all 5 books back to back and I loved them!  Here's the premise for the first novel, Her Royal Spyness:

Her ridiculously long name is Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch. And she is flat broke. As the thirty-fourth in line for the throne, she has been taught only a few things, among them, the perfect curtsey. But when her brother cuts off her allowance, she leaves Scotland, and her fiancé Fish-Face, for London, where she has:

a) worked behind a cosmetics counter-and gotten sacked after five hours
b) started to fall for a quite unsuitable minor royal
c) made some money housekeeping (incognita, of course), and
d) been summoned by the Queen to spy on her playboy son.

Then an arrogant Frenchman, who wants her family's 800-year-old estate for himself, winds up dead in her bathtub. Now her most important job is to clear her very long family name

Such a fun read for mystery and historical fiction fans! Bowen has created a wonderful character with Georgie and I really enjoyed reading all of her adventures.  The latest novel is a holiday themed one (came out late 2012) and the next installment is due out August 2013.  You can bet that I'll be getting my hands on both of them.

Her Royal Sypness Series

0.5: Masked Ball at Broxley Manor (ebook) (2012)
1: Her Royal Spyness (2007)
2: A Royal Pain (2008)
3: Royal Flush (2009)
4: Royal Blood (2010)
5: Naughty in Nice (2011)
6: The Twelve Clues of Christmas (2012)
7: Heirs and Graces (2013)