Review

For fans of:  J. J. Murphy

March, 1934. As the daughter of a duke, it’s essentially Lady Georgiana Rannoch’s job to find a suitable husband and get married; after all, she has no home, no money of her own, and no real means of earning a living. She’s spent the past month in Chelsea helping her mother write her memoir, but now that that adventure is over, she must either return to drafty old Castle Rannoch to live with her brother Binky and his odious wife Fig, or find some other means of supporting herself. She simply can't bear the thought of spending spring in Scotland with her penny-pinching sister-in-law, so she crosses her fingers and writes a letter to her cousin, the Queen, seeking assistance.

Georgie assumes Her Majesty will dispatch her to a remote country estate where she’ll be forced to serve as lady-in-waiting for an elderly royal relative. Much to her surprise, though, she’s instead sent to luxurious Kingsdowne Place and tasked with helping Edwina, Duchess of Eynsford, educate her Australian grandson Jack in the ways of the British aristocracy.  At first, Georgie’s delighted with her assignment; upon arriving at Kingsdowne Place, however, she discovers that not only does Jack have no interest in being the future Duke of Eynsford, but that nobody except Edwina – including the current duke, Edwina’s unmarried son Cedric – welcomes his presence. Tensions mount, arguments ensue, and Cedric winds up dead, Jack’s knife in his back. But is the new Duke of Eynsford truly to blame for killing the old one, or is someone just trying to make it look that way?

Heirs and Graces is the seventh installment in Rhys Bowen’s utterly fabulous Royal Spyness Mystery series. It’s Agatha Christie meets P.G. Wodehouse with a dash of Downton Abbey thrown in for good measure, and it’s every bit as extraordinary as its predecessors. This book grabs you with the very first sentence and then staunchly refuses to let go. The prose is graceful yet spirited. The narrative drive is strong. The mystery is clever, complex, and is destined to keep you guessing thanks to its wealth of clever clues and viable suspects. And Bowen does a spectacular job transporting readers to 1930s Britain; her descriptions of manor-house life are vivid, and her writing has a remarkable sense of time and place.

Bowen’s character work is among the best in the genre. The perfect blend of proper and impertinent, Georgie is a marvelous heroine for whom you can’t help but root. Fiancé and partner-in-crime Darcy is not only a great love interest, but a compelling character in his own right. Georgie’s flighty actress mother, man-eating best friend, and utterly incompetent maid provide regular doses of comic relief.  And murder victim Cedric is so callous and self-absorbed, you’ll be rooting for his death from the moment you make his acquaintance.

If you’re a fan of mysteries, love historical fiction, or just like good books, give Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen a try; I’ve yet to read a book of Bowen’s that I didn’t completely and totally adore, and I, for one, can’t wait to see what Georgie gets up to next.

Reviewed by Kat