FOUR FUNERALS AND MAYBE A WEDDING

5 stars out of 5

Hang with me here: With a fast-approaching release date, this book was next up on my list of advance review copies from the publisher (via NetGalley) and I really needed to get it done. Problem was, one of my top 5 favorite New York Times best-selling mystery/thriller authors had a just-out book that was screaming my name. Oh well, I said - this one's not a 500-pager; I'll hurry through it and get on to the one I really want to read. Well, hurry through it I did - but the reason took an about-face a couple of chapters in. So engaging and entertaining are the characters and story here that I really, really got into it and, for the duration, totally forgot about that "other" book.

Golly.

Now that I've finished, in fact, I'm kicking myself for not finding this series earlier (this is, I believe, the 12th "Royal Spyness" novel). I call it a Royal Treat, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. The setting here is 1935, and series star, Lady Georgiana Rannoch, is in London trying to keep plans for her upcoming wedding to Darcy O'Mara from getting out of hand (the guest list, for instance, keeps growingm but offending royal relatives just wouldn't be proper, don't you know). Half the fun of the book, I hasten to add, is learning how people - rich and poor - lived and interacted way back then. 

Early on, Georgie happens upon a reason to be doubtful of her beloved Darcy's faithfulness - and apparently, she has no real idea what he does for a living - but she stalwartly carries on (I guess proper ladies don't ask too many questions). But Darcy makes so few appearances in the book that about all I can discern is that besides being gone much of the time he's dapper, hunky and can charm the socks off of anyone who comes near. 

But as Georgie soon learns, there's many a slip between the bridal cup and the lip. Not only must she deal with the fast-approaching wedding details, she must attend the wedding of her mother's father to a woman who's said to be a cruel and awful woman. And then there's Georgie's mother; she's planning to marry a German who's well connected to the Nazis. As if that weren't enough to bring on the vapors, where on earth will Georgie and Darcy live once they're married? Since Darcy isn't around enough to put in an opinion, that decision, too, is left to Georgie.

The matter is happily settled when the out-of-the-country first husband of Georgie's mother offers his home, an enormous estate called Eynsleigh. Or so Georgie thinks - until she moves in to get the house in order. Right away, she must deal with the hired help, who not only don't seem to know their places, but they can't perform their duties responsibly and - lordie - clearly aren't happy that a lady of the manor has settled in to make their lives miserable.

From there on, it could be called utter chaos; the staff still can't, or won't, do their jobs (and how can one possibly survive when the proper accoutrements don't accompany high tea?), monkey wrenches get thrown at a couple of the upcoming weddings and at least one dead body turns up. Georgie's mother's decision to move in doesn't seem to help much; in fact, the two ladies soon learn that they may be facing danger far greater than losing a satin shoe in the mud.

But everything gets worked out in the end, although not necessarily to all the characters' satisfaction. I, however, was totally satisfied with this delightful book. More, please!

Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen (Berkley, August 2018); 304 pp.