A Royal Pain
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Lady Georgiana, thirty-fourth in line for the throne, has been doing rather well for herself in 1932 London. She has managed to keep her secret job as a maid from the others of her social set and is even developing a few domestic skills of her own. She just might be able to pull off living on her own.
Unfortunately, things are about to get sticky. Her Majesty has agreed to host the Bavarian Princess in hopes that this beauty will catch the Crown Prince's eye. And the Queen thinks that Georgie is the perfect person to host Princess "Hanni." Suddenly, Georgie must find a way to hire servants with no money. After all, one doesn't say no to the Queen.
But things only get worse when Hanni arrives. She has learned her English by watching American gangster films. Her companion is an awful Baroness. And wherever Hanni goes, trouble follows. And that's before the first body appears. But the potential political implications of the murder could set the uneasy balance in Europe spinning into another war. Can Georgie solve the crime without starting World War II?
This book is equal parts historical novel, comedy, and mystery, and if read that way, it is a pure delight. There are so many funny scenes in the first half of the book. In fact, I had to stifle some laughs when I was reading in public. While there are some strange questions early, the mystery portion doesn't get going fully until the second half, but I was never bored getting there. Once it does get going, it becomes a good puzzle. I caught a few things long before Georgie, but I would never have pieced the solution together. The book is filled with memorable characters who are strong. It was a delight to spend time with them.
There is nothing painful about this book or series. So be sure to catch up with Georgie's latest adventures.
Unfortunately, things are about to get sticky. Her Majesty has agreed to host the Bavarian Princess in hopes that this beauty will catch the Crown Prince's eye. And the Queen thinks that Georgie is the perfect person to host Princess "Hanni." Suddenly, Georgie must find a way to hire servants with no money. After all, one doesn't say no to the Queen.
But things only get worse when Hanni arrives. She has learned her English by watching American gangster films. Her companion is an awful Baroness. And wherever Hanni goes, trouble follows. And that's before the first body appears. But the potential political implications of the murder could set the uneasy balance in Europe spinning into another war. Can Georgie solve the crime without starting World War II?
This book is equal parts historical novel, comedy, and mystery, and if read that way, it is a pure delight. There are so many funny scenes in the first half of the book. In fact, I had to stifle some laughs when I was reading in public. While there are some strange questions early, the mystery portion doesn't get going fully until the second half, but I was never bored getting there. Once it does get going, it becomes a good puzzle. I caught a few things long before Georgie, but I would never have pieced the solution together. The book is filled with memorable characters who are strong. It was a delight to spend time with them.
There is nothing painful about this book or series. So be sure to catch up with Georgie's latest adventures.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found this book very entertaining, as I did the first title. It has good reviews on here, with which I concur as to plot, atmosphere and characterisation. It is clearly written by a Brit, but someone has tinkered with it to its detriment, as I shall show.
As to verisimilitude, there is room for improvement because it seems that someone has gone and Americanised it, which jars when you consider that the narrator is supposed to be quintessentially British and writing in her own diary. Examples:
"The queen" - it should be capitalised as Queen every time. The same goes for King, of course (and Prince/Princess if used with a Christian name or if "the" precedes it).
"Royal Highness" cannot be shortened to Highness - no person of the Blood Royal like Lady Georgiana would possibly make that mistake.
The date is Americanised every single time, which simply wouldn't happen in Lady Georgiana's diary. So, it should be "23rd June 1932" not "June 23rd".
These and other glaring Americanisms detract from authenticity and could so easily be put right, especially in Kindle editions (and I'd be very pleased to download them in corrected version from my archive to read again another time).
I also noticed a mistake in Chapter 28. Lady Georgiana asks an elderly gentleman in the Wren library who the "apostles" are. He replies, "I take it you don't mean Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?" A scholar would be unlikely to make that mistake: St Mark was not an apostle.
As to verisimilitude, there is room for improvement because it seems that someone has gone and Americanised it, which jars when you consider that the narrator is supposed to be quintessentially British and writing in her own diary. Examples:
"The queen" - it should be capitalised as Queen every time. The same goes for King, of course (and Prince/Princess if used with a Christian name or if "the" precedes it).
"Royal Highness" cannot be shortened to Highness - no person of the Blood Royal like Lady Georgiana would possibly make that mistake.
The date is Americanised every single time, which simply wouldn't happen in Lady Georgiana's diary. So, it should be "23rd June 1932" not "June 23rd".
These and other glaring Americanisms detract from authenticity and could so easily be put right, especially in Kindle editions (and I'd be very pleased to download them in corrected version from my archive to read again another time).
I also noticed a mistake in Chapter 28. Lady Georgiana asks an elderly gentleman in the Wren library who the "apostles" are. He replies, "I take it you don't mean Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?" A scholar would be unlikely to make that mistake: St Mark was not an apostle.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is the second book by Rhys Bowen featuring Lady "Georgie" Georgiana, who apart from being a single woman, feisty in her outlook and trying to make her way in the world is also thirty-fourth in line to the British Throne. With that comes some promises, Queen Mary is still trying to separate her first born son, David and that dreadful American woman Wallis Simpson. Georgie becomes involved again with another plot to distract David's attention.
A Bavarian Princess is coming to London after being in a convent, a young girl Queen Mary feels it would be better for her to stay with Georgie, so she can learn something about the social niceties, English society and make sure she turns up at the same functions as David. Georgie cannot say no despite not having any staff and living in a couple of rooms in Rannoch House and eating boiled eggs! So Georgie embarks on something that resembles a farce trying to entertain a young girl who seemingly has one thing in mind - men! Then trouble starts when a at a party someone falls to their death, a chance encounter with someone in Speakers Corner leads to a visit to a bookshop in a rather dodgy part of London, where the Princess stumbles across another body. Georgie does not know whether she is coming or going, and the Queen still insists that she put this princess in the way of David.
A rather fun book, building on the first in the series. Characters are back such as the care free, free loving Belinda, Darcy O'Mara who always turns up at the right time for Georgie as well as more of a feature of Georgie's mother and her steadfast down to earth granddad who ends up becoming her butler as well as a detective.
This book made me chuckle in many places, especially the exploits of the Princess and her fascination of American gangster movies and calling everyone old broad, a fear that Georgie tries to expel from her just in case she says it to the Queen and at times I forgot I was even reading a book that was essentially a crime mystery. The romance is still there between Darcy O'Mara the Wild Irishman, who Georgie has, eyes for but cannot bring herself to succumb to his ways. In the end all the little threads and plots are woven together into a climatic ending, where lives are put at risk, but who suffers?
A Bavarian Princess is coming to London after being in a convent, a young girl Queen Mary feels it would be better for her to stay with Georgie, so she can learn something about the social niceties, English society and make sure she turns up at the same functions as David. Georgie cannot say no despite not having any staff and living in a couple of rooms in Rannoch House and eating boiled eggs! So Georgie embarks on something that resembles a farce trying to entertain a young girl who seemingly has one thing in mind - men! Then trouble starts when a at a party someone falls to their death, a chance encounter with someone in Speakers Corner leads to a visit to a bookshop in a rather dodgy part of London, where the Princess stumbles across another body. Georgie does not know whether she is coming or going, and the Queen still insists that she put this princess in the way of David.
A rather fun book, building on the first in the series. Characters are back such as the care free, free loving Belinda, Darcy O'Mara who always turns up at the right time for Georgie as well as more of a feature of Georgie's mother and her steadfast down to earth granddad who ends up becoming her butler as well as a detective.
This book made me chuckle in many places, especially the exploits of the Princess and her fascination of American gangster movies and calling everyone old broad, a fear that Georgie tries to expel from her just in case she says it to the Queen and at times I forgot I was even reading a book that was essentially a crime mystery. The romance is still there between Darcy O'Mara the Wild Irishman, who Georgie has, eyes for but cannot bring herself to succumb to his ways. In the end all the little threads and plots are woven together into a climatic ending, where lives are put at risk, but who suffers?
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