When I got home from Florida I made a beeline for my favorite book spot, the Iowa City Public Library. That's where I am even as I type as I still substitute at the Childrens Room desk several years after I retired from my permanent job here.
I'm back to my old familiar territory in another way. Back to the mystery shelves for finding my usual weekly reading fare.
I really enjoyed "Her Royal Spyness." It's a cozy in a very drafty castle, so to speak. Bowen's new heroine is Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter of the Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch and 30 something in line for the throne. Georgie's brother is the heir of the minor Scottish dukedom, and like many royals during the Great Depression era, he can't afford to keep the castle heated or pay his younger sister a stipend. She decides to go-it alone in London, camping out at the family's city digs without a maid, a butler or a sou to her name. This is Georgie's maiden voyage as a sleuth, and a very endearing one she is.
It's amusing to see how she solves her financial problems by covertly opening a city house air-out service for those members of the aristocracy who are coming back to the city for a rendezvous, shopping spree or for "the season." Of course, Georgie must avoid being recognized because it just wouldn't do for an aristocratic 22 year old woman to hold a real job, even if they are living on canned beans.
Along the way we meet a number of colorful figures who can be expected to grace later books in this series-- an Irish playboy named Darcy O'Mara with a good heart and an obvious love interest in Georgie; Georgie's stuffy brother and sister-in-law, Binky and Fig; and Georgie's plucky maternal grandfather, the retired police officer.
I'm looking forward to enjoying this new series as much, or more, than Bowen's venerable Constable Evans series.
Liz Nichols
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