Burying the Crown

1942. More delicate matters for Guy Harford to clear up in order to keep the good name of the Royal Family shiny.

But, inevitably, the bodies start piling up, and Guy turns to Rodie and Rupert again to dig him out of the mess

Burying the Crown is a historical mystery and the second book in the Guy Harford series by TP Fielden. Due out 22nd July 2021 from Amazon on their Thomas & Mercer imprint, it's 286 pages and will be available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

I really enjoy historical mysteries, especially with a royal slant. This is a capably written, engaging, and exciting mystery set during WW2. There's a lot of wit and light humor along with some skullduggery and wartime intrigue. I found that I was drawn in by the likeable protagonist straightaway. He's a man of many talents, practical, trustworthy, and discreet and he brings with him an ensemble pair of eccentric sidekicks: Rodie (a lady burglar) and Rupert (MI6).

The author has a rare talent for sweeping the reader along. I was rooting for Guy from the first chapter and found myself surprisingly moved and annoyed in equal measure when a braggadocios gossip writer lands him in the soup and sullies his reputation by falsely claiming that he was betraying secrets about the royal family and telling tales.

The story itself is written around a framework of real historical events and people and so well entwined that it's not always apparent where reality shades over into fiction. I was fascinated by the author's note on the story at the end of the book (huge spoilers - don't read the author's note before you read the book). Despite not having read the first book in the series, I had no trouble following the plot or keeping the characters straight in my own mind. Additionally, the author has included a list of dramatis personae at the beginning of the book, so it's easy to flip back to check if there's any confusion. (One reason I really like ebooks lately is the search feature).

The language is PG: hell, bloody, damned and so forth, nothing worse. Vernacular and spelling are British English (lorry, flat, torch, etc) but shouldn't present any problems for readers outside the UK.

Four stars. This is an enjoyable read and would make a good choice for fans of light spy cozies. I fully intend to go find the first book in the series.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for an advance copy of Burying the Crown, the second novel to feature Buckingham Palace courtier Guy Harford.

It’s 1942 and the war isn’t going well, so morale is a top priority. When Anna Duckworth is found dead after a bomb blast surrounded by letters from her former lover, Prince George, Duke of Kent Guy Harford is asked to dispose of the letters discreetly. That’s not the end of the story and Guy soon finds himself involved in all sorts of intrigue.

I thoroughly enjoyed Burying the Crown which is a lighthearted romp through the seamier side of royal life and the intelligence community with a good mystery attached. I have not yet read the first instalment in this series but I love Miss Dimont, who makes a surprise cameo appearance, so I was expecting to be entertained and I wasn’t disappointed.

The novel is quite charming in a very British kind of way with what we now refer to as optics front and centre and the various factions with their own priorities scheming, frequently against each other. It is a glorious tale of surprisingly good results in the face of ineptitude and differing priorities and a master stroke by the author to make his protagonist an amateur in the ways of intrigue.

Aside from the wartime intrigue and the rather stark picture of the royal family, which, I gather, is fact based there is a good mystery involved. The identity of the perpetrator caught me off guard, although the author could be accused of cheating, or at least not offering a level playing field, by keeping some very relevant details hidden until the denouement. Still, it’s fun getting there.

Burying the Crown is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the chance to read an early copy of this book!

This is the second historical mystery featuring Guy Harford and the "dirty jobs" he has to do for the Royal Family--the book opens on one that's more literal, but later on there are more absurd things like fights over sausages and oranges. In addition to the political intrigue and the desire to "keep up appearances" for the sake of morale during the war, there is some more scandalous drama driving the plot as well. The author's note at the end hints at some fun elements of true crime woven into the fiction.

Burying the Crown is the second book in T.P. Fielden's Guy Harford series. Harford is a courtier at Buckingham Palace during WW2 who once again stumbles into a web of Royal Intrigue ,this time involving indiscreet letters written by the Duke of Kent to one of his mistresses that are found at the scene of a bombing where she's been killed. Worse it seems that all might not be as it appears and there's a darker tale to be told.

This is a more complex story than the first Harford book,Stealing the Crown and it does seem at times as if it's jumping around various story threads but not actually going anywhere. All does become clear at the end but it takes a long meandering route to get there.

That said it's an enjoyable romp as as ever there's plenty of real life scandal and bad behaviour revealed that show that the current generation of dysfunctional Royals are just carrying on a long tradition..
Aided and abetted by the usual gang of Rodie the burglar and the secretive Rupert Hardacre it's and easy and entertaining read.

I enjoyed this entertaining story where I joined Guy on his quest to sniff out a murderer.

In this second book in the series, Guy stumbles onto a murder with royal implications. Guy Harford is such a great character, you can’t help rooting for him. He is handsome and by no means perfect, but that makes him all the more lovable.

An added surprise was that this book is based on a true event, the death of the handsome Prince George, Duke of Kent. The author provides intriguing information from a source that was at the crash site.

I thoroughly enjoyed Burying the Crown, the second of Guy Harford's adventures. As a courtier to the Crown during the second World War, Guy is sent to help clean up the mess when one of the Duke of Kent's former lovers dies with love letters from the Prince in her possession. I love history and have read a number of mysteries with royal intrigue but this is the first time the death of Prince George and all of its secrets and questions has come to my attention. Guy is a fascinating character and his supporting cast of Rodie Carr and Rupert Hardacre is fantastic. I loved the historical details. I look forward to Guy's next adventure. Thank you to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of #BuryingtheCrown.

Burying the Crown is the second in TP Fielden’s historical mystery series featuring Guy Harford as a courtier at Buckingham Palace, serving King George VI and the royal family during World War II. Harford, who would rather be a painter in Tangier, where he lived before the war, is an uneasy fit at the Palace - not quite polished enough, and with a bit of undeserved taint from having been the scapegoat in an earlier British debacle in Morocco.

Still, in spite of his reservations about the Palace, and the reservations of some in the Palace about him, Harford turns out to be good at his job. So good, in fact, that he’s trusted by his friend, MI6 officer Guy Hardacre, with the quite indiscreet letters that the King’s married brother, George, Duke of Kent, sent to one of his mistresses. They were found when the mistress was killed by a German bomb that hit her country home – but what about the gunshot that was heard shortly before? Was her death really a murder, and not just another tragic bombing fatality? And what in the world is Guy to do about the letters? Just to make his life more complicated, the Foreign Office wants to send Guy to Tangier to try to mend Britain’s fences with his pre-war friend, Henri, Count of Paris. And finally, while on the subject of letters, are some members of the British royal family corresponding illegally/unwisely with their royal relatives on the other side of the conflict? Fielden, who is also a royal biographer, weaves a nice mystery, mixing real life events, such as the death of the Duke of Kent in a military airplane crash, with a bit of speculation, and with the fictional activities of Hartford, Hardacre, and Rodie Carr, a burglar now co-opted to work for the crown.

As with the first book in the series, Stealing the Crown, which I read in a couple of sittings, Burying the Crown was a quick and fun read, with a few serious moments. I especially liked the Author’s Note at the end, which filled in some of the historical background, and motivated me enough to go read a bit more about the British royals during the war. My only disappointment was that I would have liked to see more of Rodie, the possibly reformed burglar, but I still hope that may come in a future book. (Fingers crossed!) Please keep in mind that I try not to give too many five-star reviews, so that my four-star rating is a true “read-this-book” recommendation. And my thanks to the publishers, Thomas & Mercer, and to NetGalley, for the advance review copy.

The Lurking Of Secrets…
Windsor, 1942, and secrets are lurking at the palace. Guy Harford is called out to dispose of incriminating letters amidst tragic circumstances but it soon becomes clear that danger is definitely afoot. Lighthearted, scandalous, historical romp with engaging characters and an entertaining plot. A delightful read.

Even as war rages, there are deep secrets lurking in the heart of Buckingham Palace…
It is 1942 and once again courtier Guy Harford is called in to discreetly handle a “problem” within the Royal Family.
When the Duke of Kent’s former lover, Anna Duckworth, is found dead after a bomb blast at her country home, a number of love letters between Anna and the Duke are found – Guy is asked to “deal with it”, as he is often asked to “deal with” those annoying or awkward tasks that nobody else wants to do! However, as things unravel, it becomes clear that there’s more to the story than a few indiscrete letters … and this becomes more apparent after another suspicious death. Guy is a likeable character and his amateurishness and slight haplessness is part of the charm – In resolving the issue, Guy enlists the help of his old accomplices, undercover agent Rupert and East End burglar Rodie, and along the way finds himself digging up a biscuit tin in the middle of the night, having tea with a lady in waiting, visiting a seedy London nightclub, heading to Tangiers to find a potential French king, making a frantic journey to Balmoral and much more.
I have always enjoyed historical fiction-based-on-fact and this is an excellent example of historical events and people being so well entwined in the fiction that you will probably be heading to your favourite search engine to discover if the Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State, Pantler for Scotland, Board of Green Cloth, Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland and Serjeant Painter are really members of the royal household who might need an invitation to the party (they are!) or if Major Temperley, ”Crackpot” or Madge Belgrave were real people (they aren’t!)
The plotline is quite complex and isn’t as tight as in some mysteries. It may appear a little disjointed in the middle, but all comes together in the end and overall this is an easy to read, light-hearted cosy mystery with a lot of humour that will satisfy those looking for an entertaining escape from reality and I definitely will look out for more from this author.
The authors note at the end suggest that there are elements of truth in the story, though we will never know for sure quite what is truth & what is fiction!
#BuryingtheCrown #NetGalley

Another fun World War II mystery featuring reluctant hero Guy Hartford and his motley crew of friends and enemies as they attempt to navigate wartime London and this time, a bit of travel abroad.

This is very similar to the first book in the series and probably could have used an injection of something new for Guy as well as for Rupe, Rodie, and the rest of the cast, but it’s still an enjoyable read featuring some interesting historical incidents.

The semi-mysterious death of the Duke of Kent was an excellent choice for a storyline, and Fielden (as usual) manages to blend impeccable research with some creative flourish. You can’t convince me that the Duke of Kent wasn’t murdered and that it wasn’t an inside job (yes, yes, facts and such, but that’s way less fun to imagine than some of the wilder conspiracy theories). Fielden, of course, gets it right here, but he also gets some of the fun stuff in as well.

The actual murder that takes place in the story followed a plot that was a touch too similar to the first book for my liking, but I adore Guy and Rodie and there’s too much that’s fun about these books to worry much about such things.

The synopsis of Burying the Crown had everything I wanted in a book: royals, murder, mystery. Unfortunately, while I enjoyed where the story eventually ended I found it quite difficult to follow in parts. There are many characters and at points it felt like the story jumped around without explanation.

I haven’t read the first book in the series and that very well could have made the difference for me.

The country is at war and Guy Harford an able bodied man of action is frustrated by babysitting royals. Officially he works for the foreign office but he’s seconded to the royal household where he has to deal with spoiled dignitaries, boxes of contraband oranges and securing the Crown Jewels by burying them in the garden only to dig them up again. So when the chance comes to go back to his home in Morocco and talk to a royal cousin he used to work for to try an persuade him to use his influence to get the Americans into the war effort he goes for it. Back home Rodie is unofficially officially working for the spooks and has to get some explosive papers back from an important person and if she’s caught she’s on her own.
There’s a even cameo from a young Miss Dimont if all that isn’t enough. Guy remains a terrible snob when it comes to Rodie and I cheered when she poured that pint on him, he absolutely deserved it.

This is the second book I read in this series and thoroughly enjoyed it as i like Guy.
There's humour, a vivid historical background and a cast of fleshed out characters.
The mystery is solid and kept me guessing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Even as war rages, there are deep secrets lurking in the heart of Buckingham Palace…

Windsor, 1942. War rages through Great Britain. Anna Duckworth, former lover of Prince George, Duke of Kent, is found dead after an enemy bomb blast at her country home. When courtier Guy Harford is called to dispose of incriminating love letters between Anna and the Duke, it becomes clear that there’s more to the story than anyone is prepared to reveal.

As the court begins to whisper of a lone gunshot heard in the house that day, another gruesome death befalls the royal circle. With the bodies stacking up, Guy rejoins his old accomplices, East End burglar Rodie Carr and undercover agent Rupert Hardacre, to unmask the dangerous secrets lurking beneath the glittering Crown.

But with tensions rippling from London to Tangier as the Allied Forces prepare to invade North Africa, and Guy’s reputation in the Palace hanging in the balance, can he solve the mystery before more heads roll
Fabulous read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s 1942 and there is a secret re: love letters that Buckingham Palace needs to hide. In comes Guy Harford to clean up the mess. He could use the help of a couple of his friends. There are twists and turns in this layered plot that kept me guessing and entertained.
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Guy Harford may work at the Palace but he's got several very helpful friends who do not- which is critical when you're trying to both solve a mystery and protect the Royal family. This is a fun series which while implausible (or is it?) makes me smile. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.