The HER ROYAL SPYNESS series - so far, so delightful!

 

From July to September I dipped my toe into Rhys Bowen's HER ROYAL SPYNESS series and while I am only 6 books in of the currently available 19, I will return before the planned 25th is published! I read one of her MOLLY MURPHY series back in the aughts and I liked it fine, but the travails of a recent immigrant from Ireland who just keeps getting embroiled in murders didn't grab me at the time. But after reading MRS. ENDICOTT'S SPLENDID ADVENTURE back in July, I fell hard for her humorous, nostalgia tinged inter-war story and decided to investigate further. 

That is when I met Georgie, or rather, Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie of Rannoch, 34th in line for the throne of England. Saddled with a broke and clueless brother and a penurious sister-in-law, she leaves the family seat in Scotland for depression-era London, hoping to make her own way. Earning money is difficult for everyone in England at the time and she makes ends meet, barely, by advertising her services opening up the London dwellings of landed gentry who are coming to the city. She learns housekeeping, how to snag free food at social events, how to fend off dull suitors, how to intrigue penniless hotties and, of course, how to solve murders. She is also often called upon by her cousin Queen Mary, to spy on the villainous and bitchy Wallis Simpson. These books are so cozy and they are steeped in history like a strong cup of Earl Grey. 

I just learned that my favourite (see what I did there - I'm practically British...) audiobook narrator, Kathleen Kellgren was the narrator of the first 11 books in the series. I guess this means that I may have to join Audible so that I can hear her lovely voice again after finishing the Bloody Jack series earlier this month. Right now I am dipping a toe into The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower and I am listening to them on 2x speed because I just want to gobble them up. But I will be back for your, Georgie, count on it!