{"id":4205,"date":"2021-10-04T06:26:59","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T13:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=4205"},"modified":"2021-10-04T06:26:59","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T13:26:59","slug":"rhys-bowen-god-rest-ye-royal-gentlemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/rhys-bowen-god-rest-ye-royal-gentlemen\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhys Bowen: God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Poor Lady Georgie.\u00a0 She\u2019s at last married to Darcy, in residence at a lovely estate, and all she wants is to have a happy family Christmas at her new home.\u00a0 A typical wish for any young bride, but Georgie seems to have left her planning late, and her invitations are unfortunately declined as all and sundry seem to have made other plans.\u00a0 Luckily Georgie\u2019s grandfather is able to come, and sadly for Georgie (but happily for the reader) her brother and sister in law, Binky and Fig, also plan to make an appearance.<\/p>\n

At the last moment, Darcy\u2019s eccentric Aunt Ermintrude invites them for Christmas.\u00a0 She\u2019s living at a grace and favor estate on the grounds of Sandringham, and the King and Queen are spending Christmas there.\u00a0 It\u2019s 1936 and the King isn\u2019t well.\u00a0 The ominous shadow of Mrs. Simpson hangs over everything, and the Queen has more or less requested Georgie\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

The whole family \u2013 sans grandfather but plus Queenie \u2013 make the journey.\u00a0 At the last minute Georgie\u2019s mother has turned up, declining to spend Christmas with the Nazis.\u00a0 Also making an appearance: the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Simpson, who is pouting as David is expected to spend time with his ailing father.<\/p>\n

Georgie\u2019s last Christmas outing (The Twelve Clues of Christmas<\/em>, 2012) was a complete bloodbath so Georgie is understandable jumpy.\u00a0 Happily for the reader, though unhappily for Georgie, the Queen shares that she senses an \u201cevil\u201d and the household staff is certain Sandringham is actually cursed.\u00a0 While the body count is far, far smaller than it was in the earlier book, the reader is treated to several murders, some past, some present, as well as the delightful experience of sharing Christmas adjacent to the Royals.<\/p>\n

Bowen really handles this with aplomb.\u00a0 She never over plays her hand with the characters of the Queen, the little princesses, and the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Simpson, but they instead help to set the stage and create an atmosphere.\u00a0 Georgie, the classic mystery insider-outsider (she\u2019s a cousin, but distant; she\u2019s royal blood, but impoverished), is often able to get to the heart of the matter thanks to her insider status and access to the Queen.<\/p>\n

This was a well told story, and completely enjoyable, as Bowen\u2019s books always are.\u00a0 She has a tricky bit coming up as she will have to address the King\u2019s death and the abdication of the next King.\u00a0 If you read these books you are probably a fervent fan of Downton Abbey<\/em> and The Crown, <\/em>and any student of history knows what\u2019s coming.\u00a0 The fun part is waiting to see just how the more than capable Bowen will take it on.\u00a0 A delicious read, as well as a delicious amount of anticipation for Georgie\u2019s next adventure.<\/p>\n

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

Poor Lady Georgie.\u00a0 She\u2019s at last married to Darcy, in residence at a lovely estate, and all she wants is to have a happy family Christmas at her new home.\u00a0 A typical wish for any young bride, but Georgie seems to have left her planning late, and her invitations are unfortunately declined as all and … 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":[687,398,10,188,53,685,686],"class_list":["post-4205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-berkley-prime-crime","tag-christmas","tag-historical","tag-lady-georgie","tag-rhys-bowen","tag-royal-family","tag-sandringham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4205","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=4205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4207,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4205\/revisions\/4207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}