Royal Blood

July 19, 2010
Agatha-winner Bowen successfully mixes Wodehousian farce with a whodunit plot in her fourth 1930s mystery starring Lady Georgiana Rannoch (after 2009's Royal Flush). When the queen asks Georgiana, a distant relative of George V, to attend the wedding of a royal cousin and old schoolmate, Princess Maria Theresa, in Romania, the impoverished 22-year-old must scramble to come up with a maid to maintain appearances. She ends up with Queenie Hepplewhite, a clumsy if well-meaning servant who lost a previous job after setting fire to her mistress's clothing. Once in Romania, the pair find themselves in the midst of a sensitive murder case at the remote castle where the nuptials are to take place. Field Marshal Pirin, head of the Bulgarian army and a close adviser to his country's king, collapses during a festive meal and is later found to have been poisoned. Bowen once again demonstrates her mastery of the light, romantic mystery.

July 15, 2010

A member of the British Royal Family travels to Transylvania for a wedding beset by werewolves and murder.

Lady Georgiana Rannoch may be 34th in line to the throne, but her family is poor, and she must fend for herself in their London house. When Queen Mary sends her as a representative to the wedding of Princess Maria Theresa, an old school chum also known as Fatty Matty, she has no choice but to go. Having no money to hire a maid, she takes on the untrained Queenie, packs her tiara and meager wardrobe, and travels with the chaperone the Queen has provided, the intrepid Lady Middlesex, and her companion, Miss Deer-Harte. Arriving at the castle, they discover that the guests include Georgiana's love interest, the mysterious Darcy O'Mara, her much-married mother, and her best friend, whose affairs are legendary. When a cordially disliked general is poisoned at the dinner table, a small group conspire to disguise the death as a heart attack until after the wedding. Georgiana's sleuthing experience (Royal Flush, 2009, etc.) makes her sensitive to many undercurrents. The now-slim bride appears nervous, and an unidentified man seen around the castle invades Georgiana's room. Although she knows better, she can't help suspecting that werewolves haunt the grounds. She vows to do all she can to find the murderer and flee Transylvania before she's married off to a homosexual prince.

A lighthearted pastiche of pre–World War II mysteries, enjoyable for readers who know not to take the dark doings too seriously.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2010
In this fourth Royal Spyness mystery, penniless Lady Georgiana Rannoch desperately seeks escape from both London and her dreadful relatives. Rescue comes from the queen, who asks Georgie to attend a royal wedding in Transylvania. Georgie is the thirty-fourth person in line for the English throne, but shes also an old schoolmate of the bride, Princess Maria Theresa of Romania. Georgie hires a young, inexperienced Cockney woman to be her maid; meets her overbearing traveling companion, Lady Middlesex, along with Miss Deer-Harte; and they all hie off to Transylvania. Once theyre at the old castle, a mystery man vexes Georgie (Could he be a vampire?); then the vulgar Bulgarian field marshal Pirin drops dead at dinner. Georgie, her erstwhile beau Darcy OMara, and bridegroom Prince Nicholas must solve the mystery or risk an international incident. Georgie also has to deal with Maria Theresas brother, Prince Siegfried, who has decided Georgie would be an ideal wife. Bowen keeps the mystery light and humorous, but the discerning reader will note the social problems underlying Georgies breezy narrative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)