It was about the most perfect afternoon one could wish for, one of those rare English summer days when the only sounds are the buzzing of bees among the roses, the clickety-clack of a distant lawn mower and the thwack of ball on bat at the cricket match down in the village. Before me was a tea table, groaning under tiers of cucumber and smoked salmon sandwiches, strawberries and cream, éclairs, Victoria sponges, petit fours and scones with clotted cream. Behind me the stately battlements of Kingsdowne Place, seat of the dukes of Eynsford, were reflected in the perfect mirror of the lake, its surface ruffled only by a pair of gliding swans. I was sitting in a white wicker chair under a spreading chestnut tree on a manicured lawn. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.ĭear Diary: Weather fine but absolutely nothing to do. But they hardly get a chance to work out the sleeping arrangements before Cy turns up dead. Her mother's movie and Darcy’s larceny lead everyone to Cy’s Hollywood home, where the likes of Charlie Chaplin are hanging about and there’s enough romantic intrigue to fill a double feature. Lucky for her, the lead investigator happens to be her dashing beau, Darcy!

While her mother meets movie mogul Cy Goldman-who insists on casting her in his next picture-Georgie finds herself caught up in the secret investigation of a suspected jewel thief. To offer her moral support, Georgie agrees to go along on the all expenses paid voyage across the Atlantic. Georgie's mother, the glamorous and much-married actress, is hearing wedding bells once again-which is why she must hop across the pond for a quickie divorce in Reno.

Lady Georgiana Rannoch is off to solve a Hollywood homicide in the eighth mystery in the New York Times bestselling Royal Spyness series.Įngland, 1934.

Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen