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Delicious Discoveries: Her Royal Spyness Series by Rhys Bowen

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I just finished the first novel in the series and am eagerly reading the second. Set in the 1930s, this series follows Lady Georgiana, a minor royal and cousin to the King. Penniless and unmarried at 21, Georgie is trying to make her own way in London. This proves difficult as she has no skills and is easily recognized by her peers. It’s a delightfully witty book and full of rather funny passages. Witness our protagonist’s description of her royal lineage:

I sup­po­se I should in­tro­du­ce my­self be­fo­re I ven­tu­re any furt­her. I am Vic­to­ria Geor­gia­na Char­lot­te Eu­ge­nie, daugh­ter of the Duke of Glen Garry and Ran­noch—known to my friends as Geor­gie. My grand­mot­her was the least at­trac­ti­ve of Queen Vic­to­ria’s daugh­ters, who con­se­quently never ma­na­ged to snare a Ro­ma­nov or a Kai­ser, for which I am truly gra­te­ful and I ex­pect she was too. Ins­tead she was hit­ched to a dreary Scot­tish baron who was bri­bed with a du­ke­dom for ta­king her off the old queen’s hands. In due time she du­ti­fu­lly pro­du­ced my fat­her, the se­cond duke, be­fo­re suc­cum­bing to the sort of di­sea­ses brought on by in­bree­ding and too much fresh air. I never knew her. I never met my fear­so­me Scot­tish grand­fat­her eit­her, alt­hough the ser­vants claim that his ghost haunts Castle Ran­noch, pla­ying the bag­pi­pes on the ram­parts (which in it­self is stran­ge as he couldn’t play the bag­pi­pes in life). By the time I was born at Castle Ran­noch, the fa­mily seat even less com­for­ta­ble than Bal­mo­ral, my fat­her had be­co­me the se­cond duke and was busy wor­king his way th­rough the fa­mily for­tu­ne.

My fat­her in turn had done his duty and ma­rried the daugh­ter of a fright­fu­lly co­rrect En­glish earl. She gave birth to my brot­her, loo­ked around at her ut­terly bleak High­land su­rroun­dings, and prom­ptly died.

The Nitty Gritty:

Her Royal Spyness Series on Goodreads

Rhys Bowen’s Official Website