RogerBW's Blog

Royal Flush, Rhys Bowen 21 October 2022

2009 mystery/thriller, third in its series. Georgiana Rannoch, 34th in line to the throne, travels to Scotland to try to find out who's trying to arrange "accidents" for various of the Royal Family…

This is very much the book I expected it to be. Which isn't a bad thing, but I do like to be a little surprised as part of my entertainment. Very much as with the previous books, Georgie keeps an eye on events without actually doing much, tries to work out what's going on, and drifts slowly closer to the unsuitable man who is clearly her destined partner.

I did enjoy the (plausible for the period) characters involved in aviation and water speed record attempts, and a different twist on a certain historical conspiracy theory, but somehow it all felt a bit predestined. Some of that's inevitable: the setting is meant to be something like the real world, so we know that for example That Simpson Woman will not be sent away by David (the future Edward VIII). But I think that's a reason to try to push harder for uncertainty in other matters; but, well, this is a mystery of sorts, and it's going to have a happy ending, and the reader's sense of inevitability is of course not shared by the characters. It's an awkward feeling.

It's all right. But if it had been the first book I read I probably shouldn't have bothered with another; this one's really nothing special.

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Previous in series: A Royal Pain | Series: Her Royal Spyness | Next in series: Royal Blood

  1. Posted by John P at 11:00pm on 23 October 2022

    I seem to remember seeing a ZX80 game advertised called "Royal Flush". It was about fixing the palace plumbing ...

  2. Posted by RogerBW at 10:03am on 25 October 2022

    There is an attempted murder by plummeting toilet tank in this book, but I don't think it's a deliberate connection.

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