The Twelve Clues of Christmas: A Royal Spyness Mystery
(The Royal Spyness Series Book 6)
by Rhys Bowen

I’ve reviewed books in this series before. In this outing, Lady Georgianna takes a position as a party planner at an English house party to escape spending Christmas with her sister-in-law’s dreary family. Little does she expect to land right in the middle of a killing spree and a search for three convicts who escaped from Dartmoor Prison. The fun of a traditional English Christmas is spoiled by the fact that people in the quaint village of Tiddleton-Under-Lovey are dying by the day, starting with a man named Freddie Partridge, who seems to have committed suicide with his own gun… in a pear tree!

Thanks to the title, it’s obvious to the reader long before it dawns on Georgie (and Darcy who is conveniently related to the hostess of the house party) that a clever serial killer is at work.

Swans a-swimming…

Familiar characters turn up, of course: Georgie’s self-centered mother, her lovable grandfather, and her clueless maid Queenie.

This series is marvelous and I’ve enjoyed each one of the mysteries. This is my new favorite though. Most of the books are notable for the humor and the quirky characters. But the plot of this mystery is particularly clever and intricate, and Bowen kept me guessing until the end. Great fun reading for the holidays, despite the high body count. But then there are twelve days of Christmas, right?

What are you reading over the holidays?

Linda

PS: Dear FCC, I bought a copy of the book for my Kindle.