Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her dashing husband, Darcy, are awaiting a bundle of joy, but an unexpected trip to Paris will thrust them straight into a tangled web of international intrigue in this all-new mystery in the New York Times bestselling Royal Spyness series from Rhys Bowen.What a delight it is to finally be able to enjoy a simple meal again! I have been in the throes of morning sickness for the last few months as Darcy and I prepare to welcome a brand-new addition to our little family. Now that I am feeling better, I have realized I am dreadfully bored! It seems that all my nearest and dearest are off leading their own busy lives while I sit at home and attempt to train our two adorably naughty puppies. Fun as it may be, it is hard not to long for a little adventure, a change of pace, before my true confinement begins when the baby comes.Happily, it seems that Darcy has read my mind. When I receive a letter from my glamorous best friend, Belinda,...

Georgie is just back from her honeymoon with Darcy when a friend in need pulls her into a du Maurier-like murder in this all-new installment in the New York Times bestselling Royal Spyness series from Rhys Bowen! Georgie's best friend, Belinda, inherits a spooky old house in Cornwall and asks Georgie to go with her to inspect the property. When they arrive, they meet Rose, a woman Belinda knew as a child when she spent her summers with her grandmother in Cornwall. Belinda never liked Rose, who has always been bossy and a bit of a bully, but when Belinda's house proves to be uninhabitable, Rose invites them to stay with her. Rose is now married to Tony Summers, Belinda's childhood crush, and lives in the lovely house on the cliffs that he has inherited. Rose confides that she thinks Tony killed his first wife and now she is afraid. She asks Georgie and Belinda to observe Tony's behavior and their surroundings. Is Rose imagining things? Is Tony dangerous? In...

She may be thirty-fifth in line for the throne, but Lady Georgiana Rannoch cannot wait to ring in the new year—before a Christmas killer wrings another neck…  On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me—well, actually,  my  true love, Darcy O’Mara, is spending a  feliz navidad  tramping around South America. Meanwhile, Mummy is holed up in a tiny village called Tiddleton-under-Lovey with that droll Noel Coward! And I’m snowed in at Castle Rannoch with my bumbling brother, Binky, and sourpuss sister-in-law, Fig.  So it’s a miracle when I contrive to land a position as hostess to a posh holiday party in Tiddleton. The village is like something out of  A Christmas Carol ! But no sooner have I arrived than a neighborhood nuisance, a fellow named Freddie falls out of a tree, dead…. Dickensian, indeed. Freddie’s merely a stocking stuffer. On my second day in town, another so-called accident turns up another mincemeat pie—and yet another on my third. The village is buzzing that a recent prison break could have something to do with it… that, or a long-standing witch’s curse. I’m not so sure. But after Darcy shows up beneath the mistletoe, anything could be possible in this wicked wonderland.   Praise for  The Twelve Clues of Christmas “ The Twelve Clues of Christmas  is yet another brilliant novel from Rhys Bowen.... Like all of Rhys’s books, this is so much more than a murder mystery. It’s part love story, part social commentary, part fun and part downright terrifying. And completely riveting. I adore this book and can hardly wait to give it to all my family and friends for Christmas! For all who love the season, and a great murder mystery, this book is perfect.” —Louise Penny, author of *The Beautiful Mystery "Lady Georgiana's sixth outing...offers another witty and thoroughly enjoyable mystery with a dash of romance."— Library Journal *(starred review) "Bowen's sixth whodunit featuring the irrepressible Lady Georgiana...may be her best yet...Bowen blends zany humor with fair-play detection as well as any author of traditional mysteries."— Publishers Weekly  (starred review) Praise for the Royal Spyness Mysteries: “Wonderful characters…A delight.”—Charlaine Harris, #1  New York Times  bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels “Hilarious adventure…What an absolute delight! With a witty and clever plot, it’s clear that Agatha Christie is alive and kicking and what’s more, she’s funny!” —Hannah Dennison, author of  Thieves! A Vicky Hill Exclusive! Mystery  “Georgie’s high spirits and the author’s frothy prose are utterly captivating.” — The Denver Post  “Whimsical…Bowen successfully melds a whodunit with comedy as few contemporary writers can.”— Publishers Weekly  (starred review)

Another hilarious mystery featuring penniless aristocrat Lady Georgie, a feisty new heroine to delight a legion of Anglophile readers (Jacqueline Winspear). The Queen of England has concocted a plan in which Georgie is to entertain a Bavarian princess and conveniently place her in the playboy Princes path, in the hopes that he might finally marry. But queens never take money into account. Georgie has very little, which is why she moonlights as a maid-in-disguise. She must draw up plans: clean house to make it look like a palace; have Granddad and her neighbor pretend to be the domestic staff; un-teach Princess Hanni the English shes culled from American gangster movies; cure said Princess of her embarrassing shoplifting habit; and keep an eye on her at parties. Then theres the worrying matter of the body in the bookshop and Hannis unwitting involvement with the Communist Party. Its enough to drive a girl crazy...

From Publishers WeeklySet in 1903, Bowen's sixth brisk Molly Murphy historical (after 2006's Oh Danny Boy) takes the Irish immigrant to New York City back to the Emerald Isle for an assignment to find a theater impresario's long-lost sister, left behind when his family fled the potato famine 50 years earlier. Even though Molly had left Ireland under a cloud of suspicion herself, she bids a temporary farewell to her beau, New York police captain Daniel Sullivan. The voyage begins auspiciously when a famous actress offers Molly her first class stateroom, but Molly's discovery of a corpse in her sumptuous bed is only the beginning of a complicated, dangerous journey. In Dublin, she becomes embroiled in the Irish struggle for freedom and finds herself a target for murder. With a riveting plot capped off by a dramatic conclusion, Bowen captures the passion and struggles of the Irish people at the turn of the 20th century. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistMolly Murphy, Bowen's plucky early-twentieth-century private investigator, sails back home to Ireland to find a woman who is in line for a large inheritance. But the investigatory work starts earlier than she expects when, onboard ship, a young woman is murdered and another woman, an actress, disappears. The plot thickens upon docking in Ireland, when Molly discovers her own brother trying to collect the missing actress' luggage, which contains a substantial supply of firearms. Further thickening ensues as Molly learns that someone else is trying to find the missing woman and will do whatever it takes to make sure Molly is out of the picture. A plot that feels more convoluted than it needs to be detracts slightly from the series' main strength: hanging out with the irrepressibly charming Molly. But this remains one of the most accessible and comfortably entertaining of all historical mystery series. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret ServiceThere are more important things than being thirty-fifth in line for the British crown, and Lady Georgiana Rannoch knows her true love, Darcy O'Mara, is one of them. Luckily, the Queen agrees, but she has a little mission for Georgie before she can say "I do!" When Darcy runs off on another secret assignment, I am left to figure out how to travel to Italy sans maid and chaperone to help my dear friend Belinda, as she awaits the birth of her baby alone. An opportunity presents itself in a most unexpected way— my cousin the queen is in need of a spy to attend a house party in the Italian lake country. The Prince of Wales and the dreadful Mrs. Simpson have been invited, and Her Majesty is anxious to thwart a possible secret wedding. What luck! A chance to see Belinda and please the queen as I seek her permission to relinquish my claim to the throne so I can marry Darcy. Only that's as far as my good fortune...