Summary: Third book in a series about a minor British royal that is also an accidental detective.
The Royal Spyness series is a fun light hearted mystery series. In the first two books, Georgie, the 34th in line to the throne in 1930s England, has found herself an accidental detective. What makes the series work, is the mix of humor, a dash of romance good character development and some mystery to move the plot along. Georgie’s family is penniless after her father gambled away most of the money and lost the rest in the stock market. Georgie has decided that it is better to try to make her own way rather than live under the rules and obligations of her sister-in-law (and henpecked brother) back in Scotland.
Making her own way in depression era London is not easy. Georgie tried to start a business of opening homes for wealthy homeowners that are coming from their country estates to their London homes, but no one comes to London in the middle of the summer and she has to find another way to make money.
After her friend pawned off a date to her, she decides to try to advertise herself as a dinner partner for visiting businessmen. But her first client assumes she is a prostitute. Her love interest, Darcy O’Mara, happens to save her and Scotland Yard hears of her trouble and sends her out of town to save face. Except things are not as they seem. Someone is trying to kill members of the royal family and the special branch wants Georgie to work as an inside figure to help find out who it is.
This third book is just as enjoyable as the first two. The story line does enough to keep things interesting, although the ending was clear well before the end of the book. The love interest between Darcy and Georgie has enough to keep the tension without being frustrating, but that may not continue much past this book if there isn’t something that is done to shake things up.
The main issue that really will make or break this series is Georgie’s detective style. She is smart, but so far much of what she has found out has been more about where is happens to be and not what she figures out. There is a hint in this book about her really starting to do some detective work on her own. But this will have to be developed in the rest of the series or it will start falling flat. The humor and romance have made the series so far, but to keep going, it there needs to be a new note.
Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook