Her Royal Spyness

Lady Georgiana Rannoch is 34th in line to the British throne in the 1930s — close enough to royalty to be expected to behave, too far to have any money. Rhys Bowen's 19-book series is an affectionate, very funny comedy of aristocratic manners, royal obligation, and reluctant espionage.

By Rhys Bowen · 19 books · 2007–present

By The Editorial Team · Last reviewed April 2026

What is the Her Royal Spyness series about?

Lady Georgiana Rannoch is 34th in line to the throne, which is close enough to royalty to create enormous obligations and nowhere near enough to provide an income. She is cousin to King George V, which is either a tremendous advantage or an enormous inconvenience depending on the occasion. In Rhys Bowen’s 19-book series, set in 1930s Britain and beyond, it is mostly the latter.

Georgie is too well-born to work in trade and too poor to do anything else. She cannot cook — a recurring source of horror and comedy — she cannot afford servants she is entitled to expect, and she lives in a draughty Scottish castle she inherited with no money to maintain it. Her mother is a flamboyant actress who has been married enough times that keeping track requires effort. Her brother is a cheerful wastrel. And the Queen of England keeps sending her on errands that have a habit of turning murderous. Into this situation arrives Darcy O’Mara — Irish, charming, apparently penniless, and almost certainly dangerous — and the series has its romantic lead, as unreliable and infuriating as the best of them.

The comedy comes from the gap between Georgie’s position and her circumstances, and from the particular comedy of British understatement applied to situations that really warrant screaming. She approaches corpses at country house parties the way one might approach a mildly awkward social situation: with concern, good manners, and a determination to sort things out quietly. Bowen plays this with an absolutely straight face, which is precisely why it works so well. The books range across Europe — a Transylvanian castle for book four, the French Riviera, Hollywood, Kenya — and Bowen makes excellent use of the 1930s as a decade poised between glamour and catastrophe.

Should I read Her Royal Spyness in order?

Yes, though the early books hold up well as standalones and many readers have started mid-series without feeling lost. The romance with Darcy develops slowly across many books and pays off properly only for readers who have been present for the long build — and it is a very satisfying build. The recurring cast also gain enormously from accumulated history: Georgie’s grandfather, her maid Queenie (catastrophically incompetent, entirely loveable), her impossible mother. Start at the beginning and enjoy the ride.

Who will enjoy the Her Royal Spyness series?

Anyone who wants their historical crime fiction light, funny, and warmly constructed. Readers who love the cosy British tradition — the country house mystery, the eccentric supporting cast, the detective who solves things largely by accident and very good observation — will feel entirely at home. Fans of Janet Evanovich who want more period flavour, or fans of Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher who prefer a more restrained English register, will both find something to enjoy here. Phryne is richer, more liberated, and considerably more ruthless; Georgie is funnier about her own situation and more genuinely baffled by it. The books are also a natural companion to Molly Murphy — same author, different world, equally pleasurable, and instructive about Bowen’s range.

Publication Order

1
Her Royal Spyness (2007)
Georgie arrives in London, broke and socially imperilled, and is promptly recruited by Her Majesty to solve a discreet problem involving a dead Frenchman in her bathtub.
2
A Royal Pain (2008)
Georgie is tasked with chaperoning a German princess through the London season, which turns murderous with impressive speed.
3
Royal Flush (2009)
A shooting party at a Scottish estate provides both sport and a corpse, and Georgie must identify the killer amid a gathering of people who all have reasons to want someone dead.
4
Royal Blood (2010)
Georgie travels to a Transylvanian castle for a royal wedding and finds the gothic setting rather too well-suited to the death that follows.
5
Naughty in Nice (2011)
A commission to retrieve a stolen jewel takes Georgie to Nice, where the social world of the French Riviera conceals theft, murder, and a great deal of very good food.
6
The Twelve Clues of Christmas (2012)
Georgie spends Christmas in a Devon village where the twelve days of the holiday are punctuated by a suspicious number of deaths.
7
Heirs and Graces (2013)
A young Australian is brought to England as an unexpected heir to a dukedom, and when he is threatened, Georgie is asked to keep watch — and investigate.
8
Queen of Hearts (2014)
Georgie travels to Hollywood, where royalty still means something among the movie studios, and finds that Tinseltown's glamour conceals the usual quota of villainy.
9
Malice at the Palace (2015)
A body is discovered in the grounds of Kensington Palace, and Georgie's investigation leads her into a world of royal secrets and Edwardian scandal.
10
Crowned and Dangerous (2016)
Georgie and her unsuitable boyfriend Darcy travel to Ireland, where old grudges and a suspicious death make the visit considerably less restful than planned.
11
On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service (2017)
Georgie is sent to the Italian lakes on a royal errand and finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy with European dimensions and immediate personal danger.
12
Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (2018)
Georgie finally gets her wedding, but the preparations are complicated by a series of deaths that make even the happiest occasion feel rather ominous.
13
Love and Death Among the Cheetahs (2019)
The newlyweds travel to Kenya and find British colonial society a rich source of dangerous secrets and people with excellent reasons to kill.
14
The Last Mrs. Summers (2020)
Back in England, Georgie is house-sitting a Cornish estate when a death occurs that echoes the plot of a famous novel far too precisely.
15
God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen (2021)
A Christmas house party in Scotland goes predictably wrong, and Georgie investigates a death among the assembled guests with her usual mixture of incompetence and insight.
16
Peril in Paris (2022)
A trip to Paris in the 1930s brings Georgie into contact with the expat artistic community and a theft with very dangerous political consequences.
17
The Proof of the Pudding (2023)
A culinary competition at a country house provides Georgie with an unusual setting for a murder investigation, and the suspects include some of England's most celebrated cooks.
18
We Three Queens (2024)
A Christmas gathering of European royals brings old tensions to the surface, and when a death occurs Georgie must navigate the politics of monarchy to find the truth.
19
From Cradle to Grave (2025)
The most recent entry in the series, continuing Georgie's adventures in 1930s Britain with Bowen's characteristic wit and period precision.

Related Series

Molly Murphy — Rhys Bowen's other historical mystery series, with a similarly resourceful female protagonist in a different era