by Rhys Bowen
Part of Her Royal Spyness, book 2
First published 2008
Lady Georgiana sits thirty-fourth in line to the British throne, but her cupboards hold only baked beans and boiled eggs. The Queen has commanded her to host Princess Hanni of Bavaria, steering the young woman toward England's playboy prince in hopes of marriage. Georgiana faces a problem. Royal duties require palace-level entertaining, but her bank account sits nearly empty. She works secretly as a maid to pay her bills. Princess Hanni brings fresh complications. The Bavarian royal learned English from gangster films and might call the Queen an "old broad." She drinks heavily at parties and needs constant watching. Georgiana must also blackmail her brother Binky for money and transform her shabby home into something respectable. Then a body appears in a local bookshop. Princess Hanni becomes tangled with communist conspirators without realizing the danger. Georgiana must solve a murder, manage an unruly houseguest, and fulfill her royal obligations. She navigates between her aristocratic responsibilities and her financial desperation while keeping everyone alive and out of scandal.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, mystery, contemporary, comedy
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, whimsical
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Bavaria, Britain, England
Period: 20th-century
307 pages · Hardcover · Berkley Hardcover