Royal Spyness #17
The fun factor in this series never diminishes. In this outing, Lady Georgie is awaiting the arrival of her baby. She’s settled in her godfather’s house, and her big issue is finding a chef. At the moment, her longtime employee Queenie is running the kitchen, but she’s not a trained chef and Georgie has found a candidate in Paris who is about to appear. Queenie is in a classic huff, saying she won’t take orders from foreigners, when the dashing Pierre appears at the front door and all Queenie’s objections disappear.
As the kitchen settles into a new routine – and Pierre turns out to cook amazing food (Georgie had encountered him as a waiter who was an aspiring chef) – when, of course, a spanner is thrown into the works. When Georgie gives a successful dinner party, with many compliments to the chef, her eccentric neighbor, Sir Mortimer, asks to borrow him for an event at his home. He’s charging for the dinner to raise money for charity, and gives the chef carte blanche. The chef cannot resist, and Georgie is willing to share.
The dinner is a mix of celebrities and more ordinary neighbors, including an old school chum of Sir Mortimer’s. The celebs include Laurence Olivier and Agatha Christie. The dinner also features a tour of Sir Mortimer’s poison garden. It’s a success and all seem to head home happily enough when the next morning it turns out there’s been a rash of food poisoning affecting various members of the party, including Sir Mortimer.
When one of them dies, suspicion turns to the chef. Not only does he proclaim his innocence, but so does Queenie, who had been working as his assistant for the evening. Not only that but Queenie comes down with a case of food poisoning herself. However, the police chief, suspicious of foreigners, is sure Pierre is the culprit. Of course, Georgie and Darcy are on the case, finding Pierre a lawyer, and combing the countryside and interviewing party goers for clues. Agatha Christie proves especially helpful.
It’s obvious the denouement will come with the arrival of Georgie’s baby (her dreaded sister in law Fig has appeared to help out). It’s always a bit tricky when an author features real people as characters, and in a book like this one, a traditional detective story owing much to Christie’s template, it’s even trickier, and Bowen pulls it off. If it’s a bit of a reader’s fantasy to accompany Lady Georgie and Agatha Christie as they stroll through a poison garden together, so be it.
The detective work, as always, is sound and even better, the characters are specific and interesting. I never read a Rhys Bowen book where I finish it uncertain of a mushy swash of characters populating the story. In her capable hands all of the personalities are memorable, as was this fun read. This has long been a favorite series and I don’t see that changing any time soon. — Robin Agnew