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A Royal Pain

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A Royal Pain

By: Rhys Bowen
Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
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About this listen

The Queen of England has concocted a plan in which penniless aristocrat Lady Georgie is to entertain a Bavarian princess and conveniently place her in the playboy prince's 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 she's culled from American gangster movies; cure said princess of her embarrassing shoplifting habit; and keep an eye on her at parties.

Then there's the worrying matter of the body in the bookshop and Hannis' unwitting involvement with the Communist Party. It's enough to drive a girl crazy.

©2008 Janet Quin-Harkin (P)2010 Audible, Inc. Cosy Historical Mystery Royalty Fiction

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Critic reviews

  • Macavity Award, Historical Mystery, 2009
"All the characters from the first book in this rollicking series are present here - Georgie's much-married actress mother, her kind-hearted and resourceful Cockney grandfather, her sophisticated friend Belinda and the enigmatic Darcy O'Mara, a penniless Irish peer to whom Georgie finds herself attracted. There are also fleeting references to the war clouds that are gathering in Europe and the rise of fascism at home and abroad, both of which are neatly tied in with the murders and their solution. It works - both as a grand period piece and a lighthearted and completely diverting mystery." (The Denver Post)
All stars
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As usual, the voice work for this series is superb. Katherine Kellgren is such an amazing VA, and makes every moment enjoyable. The story this time although has a lot promise, didn’t feel as punchy this time around. Overall though, I loved it and will promptly be listening to the third book.

Not as punchy as the first book, but still a whirl of a time!

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Colourful characters, full of humour, good pace, strong storyline and hugely entertaining! I can’t wait to read book 3….

So entertaining!

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easy to listen to, good narration, fairly decent story (Maybe not Agatha Christie) but an entertaining listen

I rather like these books

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Would you consider the audio edition of A Royal Pain to be better than the print version?

I have the printed version but have not opened it since listening to this great audio edition read by Katherine Kellgren.

What other book might you compare A Royal Pain to, and why?

This series is comparable to the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood. They are both in the same era with Ladys dealing with murders each with a lighthearted style about them.

Have you listened to any of Katherine Kellgren’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Katherine brings the characters to life in this and other ones in the series. Mrs Huggins does seem to have a similar voice to Queeny in the later books (but they may be related).

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Murder in the bookshop (almost a library)

Murder in the bookshop (almost a library)

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So much fun. The chapters in the book shop are my favourite Georgia chapters ever.

Winderful

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