This series continues to be my favourite and for a good reason! The books never feel formulaic and I always enjoy the mystery as well as the "B" story for what is going on in Georgie's life. I also love the incorporation of real-life people in her stories, I especially enjoyed the appearance of the "Queen of Mystery" Agatha Christie!!

The mystery itself, I found not super compelling as some of the other books, with constantly going back to how the murder could have been committed. I guessed pretty early on who the murderer was but it was still a fun ride to the end and a great addition to the series.

I look forward to the next one - especially with her mother's German fiancé as WWII looms. I also hope that she will travel to the colony "Canada" in a future book!

4/5

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rhys Bowen has given us another wonderful addition to the Her Royal Spyness series. Georgie is about to give birth to her baby and she has finally hired a French chef for the estate where she and her husband are living. It is time for Georgie to throw a dinner party for neighbors, including the creepy neighbor Sir Mordred. The new chef is such a hit with her guests, Sir Mordred talks her into loaning her chef to his estate for his own party. One of the more interesting parts of Sir Mordred's estate is his poison garden, which he shows off to his guests. After the dinner, several of the guests become ill and one dies. The chef is blamed and Georgie feels responsible so she sets out to solve the mystery of what happened. The usual characters, including Queenie the maid, make an appearance in this new installment of the series and help bring the story to life. I'm a big fan of this series and this is one is entertaining. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in return for my honest review.

One of my favorite series to read. Georgie, Darcy, & gang are always nice to catch up with. In this installment, Georgie is expecting her first child, so they are confined around their estate for the summer. With a famous author a few miles down the road, they are invited to a banquet. Of course, someone is going to die. Now Georgie finds herself trying to solve it so her new French chef doesn’t get the blame. I liked that Agatha Christie is a character in this book, made things a little more interesting. I thought this was a good case & executed well. I adore these characters, & I’ve said it before, but they are like old friends you can’t wait to catch up with.

Thank you to Berkley Publishers, Rhys Bowen, and NetGalley for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This latest installment of the Royal Spyness series centers around an open house and fancy dinner party at a gothic estate. The center of attraction for the open house is the garden of poisonous plants! After the open house ends, then there is a very expensive dinner for a few select guests, the proceeds of which go to charity. The guests at this dinner include none other than Agatha Christie and Laurence Olivier! The dinner is a raving success and even Queenie doesn't manage to blemish the evening!

However, later that night several guests come down with what appears to be food poisoning, and then one of them dies.

Fortunately, Lady Georgiana Rannoch puts her head together with Agatha Christie and they are able to figure out that this was not an accident, and not a random murder, but a cold blooded murder. Between them they manage to save Georgie's new cook from being falsely accused of murder and all of this gives Agatha an idea for a new Hercule Poirot novel!

This is an absolutely gorgeous imagining of a murderous dinner party in a gothic scene with Agatha Christie in attendance! I'm very happy I was invited to share in the fun!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for providing an unbiased review.

4

I won’t bog half of my review down with a summary like many reviewers as I assume you can read and probably already have read the publisher’s summary.

The 17th Her Royal Spyness edition starts out with all sorts of good things. It’s always a relief when they aren’t homeless and or stranded somewhere. They are at home in the country at Eynsleigh Manor and Georgiana is expecting their first child. I believe it was just over a month or so away when the book starts. They have just hired a French chef named Pierre who I don’t remember it happening, but apparently, she offered him a job when they were in France during the last book. He’s vaguely familiar, though apparently he was just a waiter who couldn’t find an opening as a chef so Georgianna hasn’t even tasted his food yet. Golly! Unfortunately, Queenie doesn’t get the nuances of fine dining and the expectations of the elite and does not take her demotion well. In fact, she immediately assumes that if she has to leave the kitchen, she will go right back to being Lady Georgiana’s maid. Double Golly!

Sir Hubert, who I guess we finally met briefly at their wedding, is coming to stay. He’s the one that is putting up the money for a chef since he likes to entertain and, even though he’s an explorer, has certain standards.

Pretty soon, the whole cast of characters, more or less, are there hanging out at the house as well. Grandpa is there and happy to stay a while since he needs the fresh air of the country, Zou Zou shows up for their first dinner party as well. It’s so nice to have some rich people there who are willing to take care of things which takes a little pressure off of Darcy and Georgiana. I am diametrically opposed to reading series out of order, but it would be especially hard to appreciate their good fortune if you hadn’t started out with Georgiana squatting in the empty London Rannoch home without a penny to her name (not that she really does now either).

So far, and for quite a while, nobody dies, and I read in fear that it would be somebody we know and love like Sir Hubert. Okay, we don’t know him that well, but we love him because he has taken such good care of Georgiana.

At the dinner party were also all of the main neighbors, which now includes Sir Mordred Mortimer, who owns a horrid medieval castle adjacent to them and is also a very popular author of Gothic horror novels. He enjoys the food so much that he asks to borrow Pierre to cook for a fundraising banquet he has just decided to have. Darcy and Georgiana are invited for free and Pierre will be paid well for the job.

Before the banquet, there will be a tour of, among other things, his garden, including a poison garden, and a laboratory. After dinner concludes, several people come down with stomach issues which are connected back to the deserts and raw elderberries that were snuck on with some of the existing fruit. The kitchen system was so precise that the only person who seems to have been able to do so would be Pierre. Of course, Georgiana wants to clear Pierre from suspicion, so she dives right in. She has a big job on her hands and a hard ambiguous deadline with a baby coming at some point very soon. The stakes are even higher when food is connected to one of the attendees dies, and it couldn’t be an accident. There are other favorite characters and least favorite characters showing up, but most of the time is spent in or concerning the creepy castle and how poison could be introduced by someone other than Pierre. Spoiler: She goes into labor sooner than is convenient.

yes, it was a pretty good who done it, especially since Agatha Christie herself is part of it, but the best part is the events and people surrounding Georgie and Darcy at this beautiful point in their lives. Spoiler: her mother does finally make an appearance.

I have been a long-time fan of this series. I found this installment to be a delight to read, but the mystery was a bit easy to solve. Still, it is always a treat to be reunited with the characters in the series and their oh-so British ways. Bowen does an excellent job of capturing the nuances of the British mystery in a way that is light-hearted and fun to read. This novel features such celebs as Sir Lawrence Olivier and Agatha Christie. There didn't seem to be a need in the plot for these characters, so I guess Bowen was entertaining herself a bit by including them. Overall a pleasant read and one that is recommended for fans of the series or British mysteries in general.

Lady Georgiana and Darcy have plenty of changes happening in their lives with a baby on the way and Sir Hubert headed home. At least Georgie has found a wonderful chef - until someone does. As always, delightful fun from beginning to end.

I’m so excited that there is a new Royal Spyness book! In this one, Georgie has to figure out who added poisonous berries to a fruit tart before the highly prejudiced detective in charge of the case throws her French chef in jail.

In the last month of her pregnancy, Georgie gets involved against everyone else’s better judgment. Darcy, unfortunately, has gotten dull as a character now that he’s married Georgie, but all the other side characters bring the usual amount of delightful and quirky energy. I missed Belinda, but Bowen more than made up for it by adding Agatha Christie to Georgie’s circle.

This is a light read that is a fun and familiar without feeling overly formulaic. This series continues to be a delight.

Another amazing book by Rhys Bowen! I love this series and it just keeps getting better! The real life historical characters were very interesting and blended well in to the story. I can't wait for the next one!

Fans of the delightful Her Royal Spyness series by prolific author Rhys Bowen won’t want to miss the latest entry, The Proof of the Pudding. Soon-to-be new mother Georgie has more than the imminent birth of her first child on her mind. Her newly hired French chef Pierre is accused of poisoning the guests at a swanky dinner party at the home of Sir Mortimer, an author who is even creepier than the gothic novels he is famous for.

Georgie and Darcy are soon on the case, trying to determine how, why, and by whom the dinner guests were poisoned. Those guests include Sir Lawrence Olvier and, appropriately enough, the most famous literary expert on poisons, Agatha Christie. Will the mystery be solved before Georgie goes into labor? Also on hand to lend support are favorite series regulars like Georgie’s grandfather, Princess Zou Zou, her erstwhile maid Queenie, and Georgie’s jet setting mother.

As always the mystery is well written and clever, but this sentimental visit with these endearing characters is equally gratifying.

Verdict: A not to be missed title in this long running series that never disappoints.

Full Disclosure--NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Rhys Bowen is one of my favorite g0 - to authors for a fun, quick mystery read. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to have access to the the arc.
Ms. Bowen has several mystery series and this one is part of "Her Royal Spyness" series. Lady Georgina, only weeks away from giving birth to her first child, gets pulled into an unlikely mystery concerning her chef and an author of dark mystery books. The author pulls in plenty of character from her previous books in this series to liven up the story.
It's the perfect beach read; a fun mystery. Even Agatha Christie shows up to help solve the mystery!

Another highly enjoyable installment in one of my favorite historical mystery series.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This series is delightful and it’s fun to return to characters I enjoy. I wish the books were a little longer, but the mysteries aren’t that involved. Georgie’s baby is due in a month and she’s hired a new French chef to replace Queenie. He cooks so well her new neighbor wants to borrow him for a charity dinner party. The meal is a success until the next morning when several of the guests have food poisoning and two die. As Phillip her chef is being accused, Georgie and Darcy are forced to investigate. An enjoyable fast read to the series.

What a delight! I’ve become quite attached to these characters and the historical details Bowen incudes. And this time Agatha Christie and Lawrence Olivier made an appearance. Eagerly awaiting the next title in the series.