Her Royal Spyness (A Royal Spyness Mystery #1) by Rhys Bowen

Publication: July 1, 2008

Publisher: Berkley / Penguin

Source: Publisher / Bought

The Agatha Award winner debuts a 1930s London mystery series, featuring a penniless twenty-something member of the extended royal family. Her ridiculously long name is Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch. And she is flat broke. As the thirty-fourth in line for the throne, she has been taught only a few things, among them, the perfect curtsey. But when her brother cuts off her allowance, she leaves Scotland, and her fiancé Fish-Face, for London, where she has: a) worked behind a cosmetics counter-and gotten sacked after five hours b) started to fall for a quite unsuitable minor royal c) made some money housekeeping (incognita, of course), and d) been summoned by the Queen to spy on her playboy son. Then an arrogant Frenchman, who wants her family's 800-year-old estate for himself, winds up dead in her bathtub. Now her most important job is to clear her very long family name.

Her Royal Spyness is a fun summer read that takes place during the 1930’s in London. Focusing on Georgie, a poor single heiress attempting to earn her own way and possibly find love in the process.

Not really trained to do anything, Georgie is determined to get a job regardless. Her attempts are a bit comical and it was very easy for me to root for her through it all. She is a funny and I loved her quick wit and dry sense of humor.

The mystery portion of the story is a little light. It didn’t happen right away, so I had to keep reading a bit before things started to pick up. But once it did, I thought it was pretty good.

After I started reading this, I decided to buy the audiobook and listen to it instead. I am so glad I did, because it was a really good narration and even more fun to listen to.  This was the first book in the Royal Spyness Mystery series and I can see myself picking up next book in the series.

RATING: 3½ out of 5.

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A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir

“We had none of us girls been born to inherit a crown, and yet it has overshadowed us all our lives— and blighted them. I thought once that it would be a wonderful thing to be a queen, to wield power and wear the coveted diadem— but I know differently now. Tangling with princes rarely brought anyone anything but ill-fortune and grief.” – Alison Weir, A Dangerous Inheritance: A Novel of Tudor Rivals and the Secret of the Tower

A Dangerous Inheritance is a fascinating story told from the alternating points of view of Katherine Grey and Kate Plantagenet. With a time difference of less than 100 years between them; Katherine in the year 1553 and Kate in 1483, these two young royals lives become connected when they try to investigate the mystery of the two miss Princes in the Tower; bothers Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.

The novel starts with Katherine Grey just receiving word that her sister Lady Jane Grey, a Queen for only nine days had just been executed. 

In 1553, Katherine at age 12 and Jane, age 16 were married in a double ceremony. Katherine married Henry Herbert and Jane married Guildford Dudley; men that their parents Lady Frances Brandon and Henry Grey chose hoping that the marriages would prove to be advantageous for the whole family. It was not. A plot developed for Jane to take over the throne and become Queen, and she was…for nine short days until Mary takes over the throne and Jane was imprisoned. Both Katherine and Jane become unwilling pawns caught up in the schemes of their parents who were vying for power and the throne.  Their lives were not their own, decisions were made for them, yet they were the ones who paid a high price for those decisions.

As for Kate Plantagenet, she is the illegitimate daughter of King Richard III. Kate begins to hear rumors swirling around about her father being involved in the disappearance of the two Princes in the Tower. She has great faith in her father and believes he had nothing to do with their disappearances.  She despises hearing these negative this against King Richard III and because of this she sets out trying to uncover what really happened.  

This is the first novel I have read from Alison Weir, and I hope it will not be my last. The novel was well written and pretty easy to follow along with everything.  The characters and their story are intriguing and a bit sad at the same time, especially since they were real people. The mystery with the princes adds a nice layer of suspense and I found myself not wanting to stop until I found out what happened. Having said that though, I think the novel would have been just as good without the mystery of the two princes.  But it was an interesting and I think effective way to intertwine these two young women from different time periods.  It was a long read, but an entertaining and enjoyable one nevertheless.

Rating: 3½ out of 5

** I received this ARC from Random House/Ballantine Books via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review. Thank you.** 

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