Exclusive interview with author Rhys Bowen and a review of her new novel
Rating: 4 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“I came up with the title first and suddenly wondered why nobody had done it before,” says The Twelve Clues of Christmas author Rhys Bowen. “I called my editor and said I’d like to do some fun online posts, maybe giving out twelve clues and having Georgie solve them. Penguin said, ‘Too good for this, we want a whole book.’ So I wrote it. And my aim was to recreate the perfect, idyllic English Christmas. The sort of Christmas we long to recreate these days but can’t.”
Lady Georgiana Rannoch, now thirty-fifth in line since her niece was born, is planning a Christmas holiday with her family at Castle Rannoch in Scotland. However, her sister-in-law starts driving her crazy and then members of her side of the family start arriving. Georgie knows she must get away. Her mother will be with Noel Coward in the tiny village of Tiddleton-under-Lovey working on a new show. Accidental deaths are happening in Tiddleton-under-Lovey. How can there be so many accidents in one small town? Three convicts are on the loose. Did they leave the area or are they causing the trouble?
Rhys Bowen does it again. This sixth book in the series is a holiday themed Royal Spyness mystery. It’s not only a mystery. It’s the continuation of the love story between Georgie and Darcy. It’s witty and riveting. The plot is clever and Bowen’s writing keeps the story moving. Bowen includes favorite holiday recipes at the back of the book.
“I’ve sort of lost count of the number of awards I have been nominated for or won,” says Bowen. “Last year’s book, Naughty in Nice was nominated for the Agatha, the MacAvity and the Bruce Alexander memorial award. And it won the Agatha.” This book has only been out one week and has already been nominated for a RT Reviewer’s Choice award for best amateur sleuth novel.
Bowen’s editor is Jackie Cantor. “She and I are exactly on the same wavelength,” says Bowen. “And she loves everything I write. Who wouldn’t want to work with an editor who starts her emails to me as Dear Goddess?”
“I have just finished the next Lady Georgie book, called Heirs and Graces,” says Bowen. “It has the flavor of Downton Abbey, which I adore, and is about a host heir at a stately home.”
For most of the year Bowen lives in Marin County, just outside San Francisco and in the winter months she goes to Arizona. Bowen was born in Bath in Southwest England. “My father’s family comes from Devonshire, exactly where I set this latest book,” says Bowen. “And the family name was Newcombe, which is what I’ve called the inspector in my book.”
Bowen is currently on a book tour. Check out her events page on her websites: www.rhysbowen.com • www.Facebook.com/RhysBowenAuthor • Twitter @rhysbowen
www.rhysbowen.blogspot.com and her group blog at www.jungleredwriters.com
The Twelve Clues of Christmas (A Royal Spyness Mystery) By Rhys Bowen. Hardcover: 320 pages, Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; First Edition edition (November 6, 2012), Language: English, ISBN: 9780425252789 $24.95
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