Naughty In Nice

Starred review from July 11, 2011
Fans of Peter Lovesey's hilarious books transforming the future Edward VII into an unlikely sleuth will relish Bowen's whimsical fifth Royal Spyness mystery starring Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 34th in line to the British throne (after 2010's Royal Blood). In 1933, the destitute Rannoch, who's been helping out at a London soup kitchen, welcomes the chance to escape to the French Riviera after the queen offers to finance her trip there to recover a snuff box stolen by an odious bounder, the aptly named Sir Toby Groper. On a French train, the self-effacing Rannoch meets legendary designer Coco Chanel, who, to her astonishment, asks her to model a new line of clothing. In between this opportunity and her looking into suspicious doings by her love interest, Darcy O'Mara, Rannoch finds herself smack in the middle of a murder inquiry. Bowen successfully melds a whodunit with comedy as few contemporary writers can.

July 15, 2011

Nice is nice if you're not a murder suspect.

Lady Georgiana Rannoch is about to be banished from her London home to the family castle in Scotland when Her Majesty the Queen saves her by paying her fare to France in the hopes that Georgie, an experienced sleuth (Royal Blood, 2010, etc.), can retrieve a valuable snuffbox the Queen suspects has been stolen by the nouveau riche Sir Toby Groper. Georgie's brother and his tiresome wife Fig are staying with her relatives, who relegate Georgie to a camp bed in the library. Luckily for Georgie, she's already met a distant relative and Coco Chanel on the Blue Train. The good news is that Chanel wants Georgie to model for her. The better news is that the ladies are staying with Georgie's much-married mother, who's left her boring German lover behind for some quality time in her Nice villa. Now for the bad news. When Georgie falls off a catwalk, she loses the valuable necklace lent by the Queen and now has two priceless items to recover. Ensconced in her mother's villa, which overlooks Groper's home, Georgie spots his body in his swimming pool and is promptly arrested by the French police. Luckily, her latest beau, the Marquis de Ronchard, provides a lawyer and bail so that Georgie can continue her hunt for the killer.

Georgie's latest adventure is charming and lighthearted as ever, though the 1930s setting carries ominous hints of the future.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

Don't miss a trip to the French Riviera when Lady Georgiana (Royal Blood) is sent by the Queen on a new secret mission. Add a dash of Coco Chanel and a murder or two--how can you pass up the fifth treat in this delectable series?

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2011
The series that started with Her Royal Spyness in 2007 continues apace with penniless Lady Georgiana, thirty-fourth in line to the British throne, still trying to make her way in the world. Here, through the unexpected largesse of Queen Mary, she is able to make her way to the Riviera. Everyone who's anyone is there, including her cousin, the Duke of Windsor, and his Mrs. Simpson, Coco Chanel, and her relative stranger of a mother, a stage star. What Georgiana hasn't counted on is being accused of murder, when the lecherous social climber next door is found deadafter he tries to ravish her on his yacht. If that weren't enough mystery, the jewels Georgiana wore at a Chanel fashion show, belonging to the queen, have been stolen. The best part of this delicious series is the cast of characters (well known and otherwise), led, of course, by the level-headed and stiff-upper-lipped Georgiana, who tackles whatever is in front of her, be it murder or romance, with uncommon relish. A royal romp.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)