Royal Blood

Title: Royal Blood
Author: Rhys Bowen
Series: A Royal Spyness Mystery, book 4
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2010

Recommendation: Fun and funny whodunnit set in a Transylvanian castle. Enjoyable!
Rating: 7/10

Summary: Lady Georgiana, 34th in line to the English throne and penniless is sent to Romania to represent the royal family at a wedding between a Romanian princess and Bulgarian prince. Only a murder occurs on the second night in the castle where everyone is snowed in and one of the guests must have done it, but who?

Reactions: I've enjoyed previous books in this series and this was a refreshing quick read after Acacia. The 30's atmosphere and English humor make the book enjoyable, so I read the whole thing in about two sittings. I certainly do like this style of whodonnit, especially with all the suspects in an ancient Transylvanian castle and jumping at each noise.

There is a good dose of mystery, though unlike the main heroine, I didn't consider the supernatural explanations for the murder. There's plenty of humor with a maid who just cannot get anything right. There's some romance as Darcy appears and prince Siegfried from the previous book continues his advances. The strangest inclusion in this book is Belinda who doesn't belong and doesn't really contribute much to the plot. And while I did figure out the killer ahead of our heroine, I still enjoyed the antics in the castle. Will definitely be picking up the next book in the series when I need some more enjoyable diversions in my reading.