Book Review: Crowned and Dangerous by Rhys Bowen (Royal Spyness #10)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Character growth and a puzzling mystery

Cons: A bit slow to get started, but entertaining throughout.

The Bottom Line:

Georgie must clear

Her future father-in-law

Or marriage is off

Elopement Interrupted by Murder

When last we saw Lady Georgiana and her fiancée Darcy O’Mara, they were eloping.  Now I thought that this would mean this book would find them figuring out their new life as a married couple, but Rhys Bowen couldn’t let them get off that easily.  I’m glad she didn’t because there is a lot of fun to be had in Crowned and Dangerous.

If you are new to the Royal Spyness series, prepare to travel back in time to 1934.  That’s when we get to spend time with Georgie, thirty-fifth in line for the throne of England.  Of course, being a minor royal isn’t as easy as it sounds since Georgie has to figure out how to support herself during a depression.  Oh, and there are the murders she keeps stumbling upon.

This book picks up minutes after the previous book ended.  In fact, we are still in the car with Georgia and Darcy.  But before Georgia and Darcy can tie the knot, they get the news that Darcy’s father has been arrested for murder.  While Darcy is the son of an Irish lord, the O’Mara family is poor and Lord Kilhenny, Darcy’s father, has had to sell off the family estate.  Now the current own of the family castle has been murdered and the police think that the hot headed Lord Kilhenny is the prime suspect.

Naturally, Darcy dashes off to Ireland to help his estranged father.  It isn’t long before Georgia decides she needs to stand by her future family, so she follows Darcy to help him clear his father’s name.  But the evidence seems to point to Lord Kilhenny quite clearly as the killer.  Can Georgie pull off the impossible?  Or will a tainted family name ruin her chances of marrying Darcy?

The book got off to a bit of a slow start, mainly because Georgie is once again wondering where she will live.  This is a constant sub-plot in the books, and it is very obvious to us where she will be heading; she just needs to figure it out.  Since this is the tenth book in the series, we’ve gotten a large group of Georgie’s family and friends that we’ve come to know and love.  They mostly get cameos during this part before Georgie plunges full on into the case.  It’s nice to see these characters and get updates on them since we love them, so the time wasn’t wasted, at least for fans of the series.

However, once Georgie decides to head to Ireland, things really pick up.  We are presented with a well-constructed puzzle that unravels with some great surprises and twists before we reach a logical ending.  I couldn’t turn the pages quickly enough to find out what would happen next.

Since this book involves a member of Darcy’s family, we get more of him than in some of the books.  I loved seeing him with his friends and family from his early years, and this gave him another facet to his character.  We got some much needed development in a few of the other series regulars, and I hope it sticks in future books.  Georgie, of course, continues to entertain.  She is a lovable protagonist, and time with her is always pleasant.  Plus we get an absolutely outstanding new character here.  I would not complain at all if she is Georgie’s sidekick again in future books.

Oh, and do Darcy and Georgie ever get married?  Well, you’ll have to read this book to find that out.

Fans of this series will be delighted to spend more time with Georgie as we get the next chapter of her life.  And if you have yet to meet her, fix that today.  You’ll race through the books and be enjoying Crowned and Dangerous before you know it.

If you need to catch Georgie’s earlier adventures, here are the Royal Spyness mysteries in order.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Giveaway!

Thanks to the publisher, I have one copy of this book to give away.  Because it is a physical book, the contest is limited to residence of the US.

Just leave me a comment with your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you if you win.  I will pick the winner next Tuesday, August 23rd, so please leave your comment before 12:01AM Pacific Time on 8/23.  You will have until midnight on 8/28 to get back to me, or I will choose a new winner on 8/29.