PERIL IN PARIS

5 stars out of 5

Golly - another stellar installment of this wonderful "Royal Spyness" series set in 1930s England (more accurately, Paris, where Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her husband, Darcy O'Mara, are visiting - he on spy business, she, at least at the outset, on holiday). Of note in this one is that Georgie, as her friends call her, is pregnant - finally moving past the morning sickness that made her early months miserable.

When they arrive in Paris, Georgie is content to visit friends and see the sights, providing readers with one of the most interesting elements of the series (well, at least to me): descriptions of the period in which the stories are set and her "connections" to the rich and famous (would you believe her cousin is the King of England and she's well acquainted with Wallis Simpson, who has a somewhat prominent role in the plot)? Georgie's friend works for noted designer Coco Chanel, who is preparing for the latest fashion show, and Georgie gets tapped to model a Chanel-created maternity dress (albeit rather outlandish). Georgie also goes to a party in one famous writer of the day's apartment, where another famous writer drops by, and her mother currently lives in Germany and runs in the same social circles as Adolf Hitler.

But of course, best-laid plans aren't meant to go smoothly, and Darcy asks for Georgie's help with his secret mission. Then comes Chanel's fashion show, where an unlucky guest turns up rather dead - and Georgie is a suspect (French policemen, it seems, have very little respect for British aristocracy). Readers, of course, know she's not guilty, but it's great fun to find out the lengths to which she'll go to prove her innocence and, in the process, find the real killer. Overall, it's another truly enjoyable adventure - many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to ride along on a pre-release journey. Well done!

Peril in Paris by Rhys Bowen (Berkley, November 2022); 300 pp.