Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie Rannoch-“Georgie” for short-34th in line for the throne, has a bit of a problem. Namely, Her Royal Highness is sending Prince Siegfried, appropriately nicknamed “Fishface,” north to Georgie’s family home in Scotland to propose marriage. As far as Georgie’s concerned, this is a fate worse than death, and one she escapes only by eavesdropping on her brother, Binky, and his wife, Fig. Their real names, by the way, are Hamish and Hilda.
Faster than you can say “runaway bride,” Georgie has concocted a friend who absolutely must have Georgie’s help in London while she prepares for her own wedding, and off Georgie flees to London. Except Binky cut off Georgie’s allowance when she turned 21, leaving her utterly dependent on him unless she gets a job or a husband. As a result, Georgie has no money and no maid, and has to open and air the London house all by herself. Not to mention cook, turn of the boiler, and light a fire. Each of which is quite the adventure.
Then, of course, there is the question of money. Not to mention that HRH, after learning Georgie has escaped this round of machinations, tells Georgie that, if she really needs employment, she’ll be happy to set Georgie up as her dear sister’s companion. Deep, deep in the country. Where the most exciting social activity is knitting. Obviously, Georgie likes this fate as much as the last. After her oft-married (and otherwise engaged) mother accidentally ruins her first attempt at gainful employment, Georgie decides to take matters into her own hands and creates an agency that offers airing and house opening services, having managed that quite well once on her own. Things were going quite well, too, including acquiring an equally pennyless Irish suitor, until she found a Frenchman drowned in her bathtub.
For the most part, the mystery is very much on the back burner in this book, the actual murder not taking place until halfway through. The book is more a frothy adventure among the minor royalty of the 1930s, the focus being on Georgie and her friends and family, with the mystery as a strong subplot. But then, despite a contingent of thought that there’s no point to mysteries when you can look at the last few pages and see who did it (My opinion on that is that you can look at the last few pages of any book and find out what happened, and if you take the tack with one genre, why bother reading at all? The point is seeing how you get to the end, not just that Miss Scarlett did it in the billiards room with the wrench. There’s a difference knowing what happens and following along as it does. It’s why spoilerphobes exist in varying degrees. End tangent.) However, many mysteries (and, in my experience, mystery readers) are not so much about the mystery itself as about the detective and his or her methods, quirks, personality, and supporting cast. It’s seeing what they do, not what they find out.
Her Royal Spyness is very character and voice driven, though I suspect future books will have a heavier mystery bent, Georgie’s world having been established. And maybe it’s just because I’ve been reading Sayers this year, but I couldn’t help but notice what seem to be a few nods to the Wimsey books. Georgie finding a dead body in the bathtub in her first adventure, of course, is a big one, but there are also hints that Binky, who appears to be a supercilious twat at a glance, may have hidden depths. Except that Binky pretty much is a supercilious twat. He just has occasional flashes of brilliance. Usually when he feels his noble status isn't being given enough acknowledgment. There were a few other things I noticed as I was reading, but...well, it’s 2:30 a.m. The analytical part of my brain went to sleep a while back.
Faster than you can say “runaway bride,” Georgie has concocted a friend who absolutely must have Georgie’s help in London while she prepares for her own wedding, and off Georgie flees to London. Except Binky cut off Georgie’s allowance when she turned 21, leaving her utterly dependent on him unless she gets a job or a husband. As a result, Georgie has no money and no maid, and has to open and air the London house all by herself. Not to mention cook, turn of the boiler, and light a fire. Each of which is quite the adventure.
Then, of course, there is the question of money. Not to mention that HRH, after learning Georgie has escaped this round of machinations, tells Georgie that, if she really needs employment, she’ll be happy to set Georgie up as her dear sister’s companion. Deep, deep in the country. Where the most exciting social activity is knitting. Obviously, Georgie likes this fate as much as the last. After her oft-married (and otherwise engaged) mother accidentally ruins her first attempt at gainful employment, Georgie decides to take matters into her own hands and creates an agency that offers airing and house opening services, having managed that quite well once on her own. Things were going quite well, too, including acquiring an equally pennyless Irish suitor, until she found a Frenchman drowned in her bathtub.
For the most part, the mystery is very much on the back burner in this book, the actual murder not taking place until halfway through. The book is more a frothy adventure among the minor royalty of the 1930s, the focus being on Georgie and her friends and family, with the mystery as a strong subplot. But then, despite a contingent of thought that there’s no point to mysteries when you can look at the last few pages and see who did it (My opinion on that is that you can look at the last few pages of any book and find out what happened, and if you take the tack with one genre, why bother reading at all? The point is seeing how you get to the end, not just that Miss Scarlett did it in the billiards room with the wrench. There’s a difference knowing what happens and following along as it does. It’s why spoilerphobes exist in varying degrees. End tangent.) However, many mysteries (and, in my experience, mystery readers) are not so much about the mystery itself as about the detective and his or her methods, quirks, personality, and supporting cast. It’s seeing what they do, not what they find out.
Her Royal Spyness is very character and voice driven, though I suspect future books will have a heavier mystery bent, Georgie’s world having been established. And maybe it’s just because I’ve been reading Sayers this year, but I couldn’t help but notice what seem to be a few nods to the Wimsey books. Georgie finding a dead body in the bathtub in her first adventure, of course, is a big one, but there are also hints that Binky, who appears to be a supercilious twat at a glance, may have hidden depths. Except that Binky pretty much is a supercilious twat. He just has occasional flashes of brilliance. Usually when he feels his noble status isn't being given enough acknowledgment. There were a few other things I noticed as I was reading, but...well, it’s 2:30 a.m. The analytical part of my brain went to sleep a while back.