Rhys Bowen’s fourth book in the Royal Spyness novel series solves a murder mystery and has fun with vampires
Rating: 4 Stars
“This is the ultimate Dracula spoof, so naturally it’s creepy as well as funny,” says Royal Blood author Rhys Bowen. “I had to read a lot of vampire novels to get myself in the right mood, and thus scared myself to death.”
Bowen does it again. Royal Blood is fun and funny. Vampires and a werewolf are used to create humor in the process of solving a murder mystery.
Royal Blood is set in 1930s Bulgaria. Lady Georgiana Rannoch is thirty-fourth in line to the throne…and penniless. Directed by the queen to attend the wedding of her royal cousin and former schoolmate Princess Maria Theresa in neighboring Romania, Lady Georgia needs a maid for the trip. Queenie Hepplewhite is a well-intentioned, but inept servant who set fire to her previous mistress’ clothing. In Romania, Field Marshal Pirin, head of the Bulgarian army and adviser to his country’s king, dies suddenly. Is it a heart attack or murder?
“Royal Blood takes place at a castle in Transylvania, where Georgie goes to represent the family at a royal wedding,” says Bowen. “I always like to make the historical background accurate. I had to look into the political situation in Romania and Bulgaria and make the royal families accurate, too. I had to make sure that the family I chose were not all assassinated right before my story takes place…as they were, with monotonous regularity, in Europe during the early 20th Century. I looked at lots of photos of Bran castle and maps of the area to plot out routes. However, it’s a spoof so I felt free to embroider a little.”
Bowen is currently working on a new Lady Georgie Royal Spyness novel set in 1933 in Nice. The working title is Naughty but Nice. “Sorry, I love puns,” says Bowen. “The reason I went to France was to research the book I’m working on. So, of course I had to check out the Negresco Hotel, pour through old photos in the libraries and get a feel for what the place was like then. I’m just back from UK and France and have kept a detailed journal of that trip on my blog.”
Bowen’s new blog is called Rhys’ Pieces, about her writings, travels and life in general: www.rhysbowen.blogspot.com. Her website is www.rhysbowen.com.
Bowen is visiting Southern California bookstores as part of a book tour. She’ll be signing on Sept. 16th at 1pm at Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks (http://www.mysteriestodiefor.com/), and then at 7pm at Vroman’s, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena (www.vromansbookstore.com).
Royal Blood (A Royal Spyness Mystery) by Rhys Bowen. Hardcover, 320 pages, Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (September 7, 2010). Language: English, ISBN: 9780425234464 $24.95
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