{"id":3752,"date":"2020-08-06T05:28:37","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T12:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=3752"},"modified":"2020-08-06T05:28:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T12:28:37","slug":"rhys-bowen-the-last-mrs-summers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/rhys-bowen-the-last-mrs-summers\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhys Bowen: The Last Mrs. Summers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Every year, for many years now, I\u2019ve set aside a day.\u00a0 If I\u2019m lucky, and there are no distractions, it\u2019s a whole delicious day devoted to Rhys Bowen.\u00a0 This year that day came August 4, when I cracked open the new Lady Georgie mystery, The Last Mrs. Summers, <\/em>Rhys Bowen\u2019s take on the classic Rebecca. <\/em><\/p>\n

Georgie is a newlywed with her own house to run \u2013 Queenie making scones in the kitchen and starting (hardly any) fires \u2013 and life with Darcy to enjoy.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in the first chapter Darcy is off on assignment and when the lonely Georgie goes up to town her friends and even her grandfather are all busy.\u00a0 Dejected, she heads back home, only to run into her buddy Belinda, who has just inherited a place in Cornwall.\u00a0 She and Georgie decide to head to Cornwall to check it out together in quick order.<\/p>\n

Even though Belinda had spent summers in Cornwall with her grandmother, the two women have a tricky time finding the remote fishing cottage she\u2019s inherited, one that\u2019s poorly equipped for any kind of comfort.\u00a0 The basement bathroom without a door sends them into town the next day looking for better accommodations.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where they run into Rose, childhood playmate of Georgie\u2019s, now married to another childhood friend, Tony, and living in one of the poshest mansions in town.\u00a0 She begs them to stay with her, which is awkward because Tony and Belinda had an affair before his first marriage, but Rose is insistent.<\/p>\n

The two women turn up at the house to be greeted by the most efficient and creepiest housekeeper of all time, Mrs. Mannering.\u00a0 Readers of Rebecca <\/em>will see her likeness to the creepy Mrs. Danvers in pretty quick order.\u00a0 Things at Rose\u2019s house seem off in lots of ways.\u00a0 Rose\u2019s mother was a cook and the servants have trouble treating her respectfully, and Belinda is frankly puzzled that the dashing Tony has married the dowdy Rose.<\/p>\n

When Tony turns up dead and Belinda is accused of the murder, the mystery becomes far more tricky.\u00a0 Because Bowen is such a master of her craft, she can write a truly tricky mystery despite supplying the reader with very few suspects, as well as having the template of Rebecca<\/em> guiding the proceedings.\u00a0 A lesser writer could not pull it off.<\/p>\n

I will say your enjoyment of the novel will be helped if you are also a fan of Rebecca, <\/em>but the story, the characters, and the Cornwall setting are treasure enough for any reader.\u00a0 This year\u2019s Rhys Bowen day was not spent in vain. \u00a0But now, I have to wait another full year for the next Rhys Bowen day\u2026.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, for many years now, I\u2019ve set aside a day.\u00a0 If I\u2019m lucky, and there are no distractions, it\u2019s a whole delicious day devoted to Rhys Bowen.\u00a0 This year that day came August 4, when I cracked open the new Lady Georgie mystery, The Last Mrs. Summers, Rhys Bowen\u2019s take on the classic Rebecca. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[189,136,390,10,188,389,53],"class_list":["post-3752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-berkley","tag-british-village","tag-cornwall","tag-historical","tag-lady-georgie","tag-rebecca","tag-rhys-bowen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3753,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3752\/revisions\/3753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}