Fortunately, the temperature has been higher than usual, or all this rain would have been epic snow storms.  The weather still makes it an excellent time for some reading especially with the last few weeks of winter to go, and with the constant barrage of indictments, and political hijinks gracing television maybe escapist reading should be the thing.

 

If you are a fan of light, frothy, cozy mysteries, then Rhys Bowen’s series starring Lady Georgie may be the perfect fit.  Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie is 34th in line to the English throne, a descendant of Queen Victoria and cousin to the current king.  Yet in depression era Great Britain all that heritage is not such a great thing.  Her sister-in-law cuts off her allowance and Georgie heads to London to live in the empty family home and become a liberated woman.

          

Unfortunately, being able to walk with a book on your head and knowing the correct table placement for a bishop is not the sort of qualifications in demand.  After a short shift as a clerk at Harrod’s, Georgie decides to hire herself out as a maid who opens London houses for the aristocracy, but that idea has problems as well, her royal relatives would not look fondly at one of their own cleaning houses.  So, in the midst of hiding her identity, learning how to light furnaces, etc., Georgie discovers a body in the bathroom of her brother’s home.  Now she needs to prove her innocence, prevent her brother from being arrested and find out the identity of the murderer.

           

“Her Royal Spyness” is the first volume in the series that has Georgie later dealing with vampires, missing heirs, vacation murders, Wallis Simpson, and even Hollywood in subsequent volumes.  Book number twelve is due out this summer, but that gives you plenty of time to laugh out loud at the antics of the rich and famous through the rest of the series.

           

The books in order are: “Her Royal Spyness,” “A Royal Pain,” “Royal Flush,” “Royal Blood,” “Naughty in Nice,” “The Twelve Clues of Christmas,” “Heirs and Graces,” “Queen of Hearts,” “Malice at the Palace,” “Crowned and Dangerous,” and “On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service.”