It’s 1935 when newlyweds Georgie and Darcy O’Mara plan a small gathering of friends and family over the Christmas holidays at their new home. Their plans change when an unexpected invitation arrives from Darcy’s eccentric Aunt Ermintrude. Ermintrude had been a lady-in-waiting for Queen Mary and is living at Wymondham Hall which is on the edge of the royal Sandringham estate. The invitation implies that the Queen would like to visit with Georgie. The O’Mara’s feel they must accept Ermintrude’s invitation. Georgie’s mother, brother Binky and his wife Fig are also invited along with their two children. The Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson are in attendance. The Prince is duty-bound to his family’s holiday traditions especially since the King’s health is failing and this may be his last Christmas. Wallis is unhappy that she is left behind at Wymondham Hall while the Prince is at Sandringham.
Awful accidents happen at Sandringham, and the Queen wants Georgie (along with security and the police) to figure out what is going on. She feels that the estate is cursed. The Prince is shot at. An equerry (an officer of the household of a prince or noble who had charge over the stables) died last Christmas and another died this Christmas. Wallis Simpson is left unconscious when a collapsible staircase falls and hits her on the head at Wymondham Hall.
I won’t give away any more of the plot and invite you read the novel. I thoroughly enjoy the Royal Spyness series and recommend that the books be read in order. The stories and characters build on each other.
- Her Royal Spyness – 2007
- A Royal Pain – 2008
- Royal Flush – 2009
- Royal Blood – 2010
- Naughty in Nice – 2011
- The Twelve Clues of Christmas – 2012
- Heirs and Graces – 2013
- Queen of Hearts – 2014
- Malice at the Palace – 2015
- Crowned and Dangerous – 2016
- On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service – 2017
- Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding – 2018
- Love and Death Among the Cheetahs – 2019
- The Last Mrs. Summers – 2020
- God Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen – 2021
~Emma
Read it or Weep 