A Royal Pain (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries, #2) in Ask Rhys Bowen, Deborah Crombie, and Charles Todd!

Mar 20, 2012 Barbara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-cozy

Okay, I was all ready to say that this was it - I'm not continuing with this series. However, I was not done with the book. I was about 92% done when I was ready to throw in the towel: then the last 7% hooked me again. Oh my god - I'm hooked by the heroine's potential romance and love interest. I can't believe it. The woman who professes to not really like romances.

Frankly, much of the book was tedious. Its supposed to be humorous, that Georgie, thirty-four in line to the throne on England, is ...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Pamela rated it liked it

Something is rotten in the House of Rannoch. Perhaps it is Georgie's finances, which, despite her moonlighting as a posh house cleaner, are pretty near rock bottom. Perhaps it is the visiting Bavarian princess, whom Georgie is saddled with by the queen despite her lack of funds, staff, and culinary know-how beyond boiled eggs on toast. Perhaps it is the Princess Hannelore's propensity to speak English culled from American gangster movies--"Please do not call Her Majesty a doll, babe, or broad"-- Something is rotten in the House of Rannoch. Perhaps it is Georgie's finances, which, despite her moonlighting as a posh house cleaner, are pretty near rock bottom. Perhaps it is the visiting Bavarian princess, whom Georgie is saddled with by the queen despite her lack of funds, staff, and culinary know-how beyond boiled eggs on toast. Perhaps it is the Princess Hannelore's propensity to speak English culled from American gangster movies--"Please do not call Her Majesty a doll, babe, or broad"--use a five finger discount at Harrods, consort with communists, and, when not chugging cocktails, canoodling with boys and stumbling into cocaine binges at parties, make no effort to do her royal duty and usurp the Prince of Wales's affections from tacky Wallis Simpson. Perhaps it is the Honorable(?) Darcy O'Mara, who has resurfaced at the Savoy with a glamorous brunette on his arm. Or perhaps it is the aptly named Baroness Rottenmeister, Hanni's dour chaperon who only stops berating Georgie about the substandard state of her accommodations, entertainment, and everything else to eat Georgie out of house and home, which she does at great gastronomical sacrifice.

But no, all of these woes fade in comparison to the rather impressive number of bodies that seem to be falling all around Georgie and her royal houseguest. First a suspicious accident at a party, then a stabbing at a bookshop, and now Scotland Yard is knocking on the door asking for the definition of "coincidence." What's making a stink is Murder Most Foul.

So it's once more unto the breach for Georgie when the Queen asks her if she can't just quietly solve the crime(s) on her own and avoid the fuss of a major international incident. What's one more item on an already bursting to-do list? Joining her are her trusty ex-bobby grandfather, kindly masquerading as her butler during the princess's stay, her fast and loose friend Belinda, and the enigmatic Darcy, who has a talent for appearing at just the right time. One starts to wonder, as Georgie does, if it's just the luck of the Irish or if Darcy hasn't got a bit of 007 in him?

I enjoyed Georgie's second adventure, though not quite as much as I did her first. The mystery component was well-developed and well-paced. While I didn't guess precisely whodunit until the very end, I had my general suspicions fairly early on. I like the fact that, like the reader, Georgie is an amateur so that she goes through the paces with us. Bowen does a good job with misdirection, putting out several pieces of information that don't quite fit until we adjust our focus or thinking just a bit, and then click they all fall into place. Her tone is also, again, expert, with perfect Wodehousian diction. I love her characters and characterizations and wish that I, too, could run with the smart London set (except I'd rather not attend parties where murder is on the menu) and sit down for some tea and sympathy with Georgie and her grandad. Where this fell a bit short for me, however, was in the comedy department. These books are as much social farces as they are romantic mysteries and the first installment, Her Royal Spyness offered an endless variety of punchlines as Georgie tried for the first time ever to cope with living (and living it up) on her own. The punchline in A Royal Pain, however, was more often than not centered around Princess Hanni's American gangster English/appalling manners and, after the first 20 times, the joke started to get a little old. When the focus shifted to other characters--awful Wallis Simpson, for example--the laughs came frequently enough to provoke stares from my fellow Ann Arbor Transit riders.

Verdict: not quite as delightful as the first book in the series but it was still jolly fun. On to Royal Flush! ...more

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Jan 18, 2009 Denise rated it really liked it

I'm enjoying this new character of Ms. Bowen's, especially with being "tied" to the Royal Family (grand-daugher of HM). ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Alice rated it liked it

Shelves: series-royal-spyness

Ditto book 1, but 3.5 stars!

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Jan 23, 2013 Teresa rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2013

I think I'm going to continue with this series! It makes me laugh. ...more

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Jan 06, 2014 Stephanie Curran rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery

I'm enjoying this series!
...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Carrie Goodall rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-and-suspense, historical-fiction

A fun read. I like the main character and the time period, but I solved this mystery too easily. Doesn't bother me, though. I still like this author. ...more

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