An Interview with Rhys Bowen by E. B. Davis

 

Georgie is excited for her first Christmas as a married woman in her lovely new home. She suggests to her dashing husband, Darcy, that they have a little house party, but when Darcy receives a letter from his aunt Ermintrude, there is an abrupt change in plans. She has moved to a house on the edge of the Sandringham estate, near the royal family, and wants to invite Darcy and his new bride for Christmas. Aunt Ermintrude hints that the queen would like Georgie nearby. Georgie had not known that Aunt Ermintrude was a former lady-in-waiting and close confidante of her royal highness. The letter is therefore almost a royal request, so Georgie, Darcy, and their Christmas guests: Mummy, Grandad, Fig, and Binky all head to Sandringham.

Georgie soon learns that the notorious Mrs. Simpson, mistress to the Prince of Wales, will also be in attendance. It is now crystal clear to Georgie that the Queen expects her to do a bit of spying. There is tension in the air from the get-go, and when Georgie pays a visit to the queen, she learns that there is more to her request than just some simple eavesdropping. There have been a couple of strange accidents at the estate recently. Two gentlemen of the royal household have died in mysterious circumstances and another has been shot by mistake during a hunt. Georgie begins to suspect that a member of the royal family is the real target but her investigation will put her new husband and love of her life, Darcy, in the crosshairs of a killer.

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I can’t believe God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen is Rhys Bowen’s fifteenth Royal Spyness mystery. It seems like only yesterday when I picked up the first book and fell in love with the series. In this book, as in the others, Georgie finds herself in difficult circumstances, but this time not because Queen Mary asks her for reports on Mrs. Simpson and her son. Men are being murdered on the royal Sandringham estate. None of them have much in common. A strange phenomenon for Georgie and Darcy to muddle through and figure out. In this episode, Queenie’s faux pas makes for a great laugh. Thanks, Rhys! Well done.

 

 

Please welcome Rhys Bowen back to WWK.                                         E. B. Davis

You mention at the end of the book that the British populace really had no idea of the relationship between Mrs. Simpson and the Prince of Wales. Have all of the press gone from one extreme to the other, especially the British press? But then, Wallis Simpson says in Switzerland, reporters followed them. Was it the secret that was only secret in Britain?

 

RHYS:  It was so strange, looking back on it, that the British press had a gentlemen’s agreement not to mention her until the new king declared that he wanted to marry her. Of course, those who traveled knew all about her, because the foreign press hounded them wherever they went. Can you imagine the press today agreeing not to report on Diana, or Meghan and Harry? And you’re right. They have gone to the other extreme, giving these poor royals no privacy at all, and in fact hounding Diana to her death.

 

Binky, Fig, Ducky, Foggy…all the nicknames! Is this a phenomenon in Britain? Or was this the cute thing do in the upper classes when four names were common? How did they all come to get their names?

 

RHYS: I suppose the upper class has always had such long and boring names that a nickname was a way of showing affection within the family. If you are called Sebastian Alexander Melville it’s much easier to be called Shrimpy, isn’t it? Sometimes nicknames came about because of looks or size: Tubby, Shrimpy, Froggy, and often these were given in the first years of boarding school.

 

And this has by no means died out. My husband’s aristocratic family has cousins called Fig (yes, I stole her name) Dudh, and Puff. Puff is a distinguished elderly lady whose nephew is the current Sir Ferrers Vyvyan of Trelowarren.

 

What is Spotted Dick?

 

RHYS: It’s a suet pudding. These were popular desserts when I was growing up, houses were cold and we needed calories. Suet is animal fat and suet puddings were stodgy and cooked in a pudding basin. Spotted dick was one made with currents and raisins in it, and would have been served with custard over it. It’s usually a humble dish, a nursery dish, not one for polite company.

 

As landlords of the manor (even if they don’t really own it), Darcy says they are obligated to have the neighbors in for holiday festivities. So many of the landed gentry lost the family money during the 20^th century. Were they obligated to keep up the old traditions even when they couldn’t afford it?

 

RHYS: Many big estates were sold and divided after WWII because it was impossible to get servants or to pay for coal to heat them. Most people who have managed to keep big estates have been forced to open them to the public, to create attractions like theme parks and zoos. But they still do have celebrations for their estate workers, and local traditions—a harvest festival, for example.

 

But this takes place in the 1930s when servants were still plentiful and the way of life had not changed.

 

Does Mrs. Holbrook work well along with Queenie?

RHYS: Mrs. Holbrook is a sweet and tolerant soul. I expect she manages to keep

Queenie in line without being too harsh on her. And of course, Queenie does cook quite well!

 

When Zou Zou recommends going to an agency to get a cook to replace Queenie, Georgie finds it far too late for a holiday hire. Plan B is to put an advertisement in The Lady. Was that a real publication? Was it a newsletter, magazine, or newspaper?

 

RHYS: The Lady still exists, unchanged since that time. It’s a magazine with articles about home decorating, flower arranging, plus pictures of hunts and balls and coming out parties (debs not the other kind). And advertisements! My daughter got a job helping at a house party one Christmas through an advert in The Lady.

 

Georgie’s plans for the holiday in their own home keep falling through. Except for her granddad, no one who they want as guests can come. But due to their boiler breaking, Fig and Binky must vacate their home. So, they invite themselves to Darcy and Georgie’s home. Georgie’s Mummy also arrives having been spurned by the German Max for his mother. What’s the up side for Georgie now that the party will now go to Aunt Ermintrude’s house near Sandringham?

 

RHYS: The upside is that Georgie won’t be in charge. She’ll be a guest and can enjoy the company without worrying whether anything will go wrong. (Of course it does go wrong, but that’s what mystery novels are all about, aren’t they?)

 

Georgie hopes that while they are away, Granddad will play draughts with Hamilton (Binky and Fig’s butler). Is that darts when you play for ale?

 

RHYS: Draughts is the British name for checkers.

 

Sandringham Estate appears to be northeast of London. You have Darcy and Georgie going through London to get to it. Where is Eynsleigh located?

 

RHYS: Eynsleigh is in East Sussex, pretty much on a direct route from London to Brighton. So main roads lead into London and then out the other side. Before the war there were no ring roads around the city. And yes, Sandringham is in Norfolk, due NE from London.

 

Why are/were affectionate displays between parents and children discouraged?

 

RHYS: The upper-class children were raised by their nanny in the nursery and just brought downstairs to meet their parents at tea-time. Nanny was often warm and affectionate so they got their hugs, but not from parents. (My husband never did anything but shake hands with his father). Children were raised to be future leaders of the empire. Especially boys were told to be a man and never cry.

 

What is cauliflower cheese?

 

RHYS: Yum! One of my favorites. Cauliflower is cooked, then a cheese sauce is poured over it and it is put under the grill until it becomes bubbly.

 

Mrs. Simpson calls the future queen Elizabeth (QEI) “Cookie” and Elizabeth (QEII) “Shirley Temple.” Was Wallis Simpson critical of the royal family publicly?

 

RHYS: She wasn’t in the public eye until the king told the world about her, but at gatherings of social equals she made it quite clear that she loathed the Duchess of York and the young Elizabeth. She mocked the duchess’s dress sense and made fun of the duke’s stammer.

 

Georgie’s interactions with the royal grandchildren Elizabeth and Margaret were interesting. Does she know Elizabeth is bound for the crown?

 

RHYS: Nobody had any idea at that time. It was assumed the Prince of Wales would marry and produce an heir. It was a horrible shock to the Duke and Duchess of York to find themselves thrust into the role of king and queen. And Elizabeth always said that she wanted to grow up to marry a farmer and keep horses. Poor thing.

Did Mrs. Simpson really think she would be accepted as Queen? How could she be that naïve?

 

RHYS: I find it hard to believe now, but the more research I have done, the clearer it is that she really believed that when Edward became king he could override Parliament and the church and make the country accept her as queen. She was, indeed naïve.

 

After WWI, most Britons weren’t enthralled by Germany or Hitler. I saw footage of the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Simpson as Hitler’s guests on the TV show The Crown, which was real footage. How could a future king be so clueless?

 

RHYS: How indeed? They were both great admirers of Hitler and the way he had put

Germany back on its feet. I think he was also a little naïve and of course Hitler flattered him. But the British government saw what a threat he could become—put on the throne as a puppet king, which is why they sent him to the Bahamas, safely near the US coastline.

 

Winston Churchill once said that we should erect a statue to Mrs. Simpson because without her we’d have been conquered by Germany, as Edward would have invited Hitler in.

 

Does being on time for the royal family mean a half hour early? Or was that just for Queen Mary and King George?

 

RHYS: It was just King George who had this thing about being early. It was only at Sandringham that this was enforced: called Sandringham Time, but if you read other books in the series you’ll know that Georgie always made sure she was really early for any meeting with the king and queen, just in case.

 

Does hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?

 

RHYS: There is certainly a character in the book that this could apply to. You’ll have to read the book to find out which one.

 

Do you see parallels between 1935 and 2020 for the royals?

 

RHYS:  I do. I think we have Harry who has been so brave in some ways, fought in Afghanistan, but is so emotionally fragile because of the death of his mother that he chooses a dominating woman. Meghan is clearly the one in charge, just as Mrs. Simpson bossed Edward around.

 

What’s next for Darcy and Georgie?

 

RHYS: I haven’t started to write the next book yet but I can tell you that it takes place in Paris and may involve a fashion show at Chanel’s salon!

 

An Interview with Author Rhys Bowen by E. B. Davis

“We’ve just had the war to end all wars,” I said

and heard my voice crack with emotion.

“That’s what we all hoped. But the Germans are itching for revenge,

for a chance to hold their heads up high again. And I think Hitler wants more than that.

He wants to rule the world.”

Rhys Bowen, Love and Death Among the Cheetahs, Kindle Loc 3561

Georgie and Darcy are finally on their honeymoon in Kenya's Happy Valley, but murder crashes the party in this all-new installment in the New York Times bestselling series.

I was so excited when Darcy announced out of the blue that we were flying to Kenya for our extended honeymoon. Now that we are here, I suspect he has actually been sent to fulfill another secret mission. I am trying very hard not to pick a fight about it, because after all, we are in paradise! Darcy finally confides that there have been robberies in London and Paris. It seems the thief was a member of the aristocracy and may have fled to Kenya. Since we are staying in the Happy Valley—the center of upper-class English life—we are well positioned to hunt for clues and ferret out possible suspects.

Now that I am a sophisticated married woman, I am doing my best to sound like one. But crikey! These aristocrats are a thoroughly loathsome sort enjoying a completely decadent lifestyle filled with wild parties and rampant infidelity. And one of the leading lights in the community, Lord Cheriton, has the nerve to make a play for me. While I am on my honeymoon! Of course, I put an end to that right off.

When he is found bloodied and lifeless along a lonely stretch of road, it appears he fell victim to a lion. But it seems that the Happy Valley community wants to close the case a bit too quickly. Darcy and I soon discover that there is much more than a simple robbery and an animal attack to contend with here in Kenya. Nearly everyone has a motive to want Lord Cheriton dead and some will go to great lengths to silence anyone who asks too many questions. The hunt is on! I just hope I can survive my honeymoon long enough to catch a killer. . . .

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A possible jewel thief? Nazi espionage? Murder? Love and Death Among the Cheetahs, the thirteenth in the Royal Spyness mystery series, has a complex plot with a myriad of possible crimes and suspects. But this book has differences from its predecessors.

The first difference is obvious. Darcy and Georgiana are now married. The book is set during their 1935 honeymoon. The next difference is that they are on somewhat hostile territory. Although other books in the series were set in locations outside of the British Isles, this book is set in Kenya, a British territory. But the English settlers don’t act very loyal and resent the local government. Darcy is friends with the English government’s district officer. The settlers don’t think much of him. They’re condescending and don’t mix with the government agents. As a result, Darcy and Georgiana are considered outsiders.

Another difference in this book, although it too contains real historical personages, some of the fictional characters are also based on real characters. I learned a lot of history and, even after the fact by eighty-five years, found it chilling.  

Please welcome Rhys Bowen back to WWK.                                           E. B. Davis

You start the book with an apology to readers. Why?

RHYS: Because the British Colonials attitude toward the Africans was so unacceptable to us today. They treated the local men as if they were children and called them “boys.” I wanted to warn readers and make sure that they knew it was not my view, it was the view of characters in the 1930s.

The queen asks Georgiana to spy on her son David, the Prince of Wales, while she is in Kenya?  Isn’t Kenya large? Why would the queen think Georgiana would have the proximity to spy?

RHYS: Kenya certainly is large, but the British settlers all lived in one small area, and the aristocrats all socialized with each other. She would certainly have had a chance to meet up with the prince.

I was surprised by the route Darcy and Georgiana took to get to Kenya? Why can’t they fly directly from England to Kenya?

RHYS: You have to remember that the airline industry was in its infancy in the 1930s. The route to Africa had only opened up earlier that year and planes could only fly about 200 miles or so without refueling.

Was Croydon Aerodome in the same location Heathrow is now?

RHYS: No. Croydon, London’s first airport, is south of Central London. That airport was scrapped when the runways were not long enough for bigger planes. Heathrow was only created after WWII.

I kept trying to picture a flying boat. Was is similar to Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose?

RHYS: Not as big as the Spruce Goose. Quite a large airliner with a fat cabin, but with floats instead of wheels. They were biplanes (two sets of wings, one above the other.

What is a biplane? Was the Hannibal real?

RHYS: The Hannibal was certainly real. A Hanley Paige aircraft designed for the Colonial routes. It had double wings like the flying boats. Could carry about 40 people. They were quite luxurious with plush seats and stewards to wait on the passengers.

Why are the settlers not happy with the government?

RHYS: The settlers had moved from Britain because they wanted a freer lifestyle. They liked to think they were kings of their own estates in Africa and fought against any government regulations, such as water usage and treatment of African workers. There was a government officer in every area to keep an eye on them.

Georgiana becomes suspicious that the Kenya trip isn’t a honeymoon, but a mission for Darcy. When her suspicions prove true, why is she both pleased and displeased?

RHYS: She is disappointed that they are going on this trip not because Darcy wanted to surprise her with a lovely honeymoon but because he’s been given a commission to do some spying. But then she realizes that she’s lucky to be in Kenya and would never have had this luxurious honeymoon unless someone was paying for it.

What’s kudu?

RHYS: It’s a type of large antelope.

What are Siafus, and were the soldier ants really used for sutures?

RHYS: They are ants. They are always on the move as a colony and swarm over anything in their way. They have a very painful bite. When their jaws lock on something they are so strong that they can’t be pried open. Hence the Maasai warriors used them to suture wounds. They’d hold the ant until it bit, then twist off the head and leave it on the wound.

The victim, Lord Cheriton, tried to molest Georgiana, but he was very popular with the ladies. Georgiana asks herself, “…why did he seem to have that effect on all the other women when I found him so repulsive?” Loc. 2637 Good question! Could you answer Georgiana?

RHYS: I presume because he was good at sex! Their lifestyle was so different from what Georgie is used to.

What is a panga?

RHYS: It’s like a machete. The tool the local Africans used for clearing the bush and chopping wood etc.

Some of the settlers participated in wife/husband swapping parties, which included using alcohol and cocaine. It sounds more like the 1970s. What contributed to this behavior, which, I assume, wouldn’t have been tolerated in English society?

RHYS: British aristocrats have always led a lifestyle that would shock the ordinary people at home in England. There has always been free use of drugs, mistresses. Queen Victoria’s oldest son started this type of behavior with a string of mistresses. But far from England they were able to behave even more freely and shockingly. By the way, all the naughty things in the book are absolutely true.

The local Kenya natives, the Maasai, refuse to be servants. Household help were imported from Somalia. What were the differences in these people?

RHYS: The Somalis were prized as servants because they looked so haughty and proud, but most servants were local Kikuyu tribesmen.

Idina, one of the most loathsome of the English women, was a rival of Georgiana’s mother. Surely her mother couldn’t have been quite so distasteful?

RHYS: Idina might have led a very loose kind of life, but she was very popular and well liked by all the settlers. Idina was known as the original “bolter.” She left her husband and sons and ran off with someone else, then left him, and had a succession of husbands and lovers.

Georgie’s mother also bolted from her husband, and had a succession of men. She was also notorious and lived outside of the laws of society.

Why did many of the English in Kenya drive Buicks rather than English cars?

RHYS: The Buicks were large and sturdy for dirt roads, but there were plenty of English cars too.

Did you have to research the hunting and feeding habits of the safari animals?

RHYS: I’ve always been an animal buff and know quite a lot about animals, but I also had a field guide from a friend who had been on safari many times and answered all my questions.

Were any of your characters based on real people that lived in Kenya during the 1930s?

RHYS: Oh yes. Idina was real and as portrayed. Lord Cheriton is based on Lord Errol, the leader of society in the Happy Valley, whose murder was never solved. In fact, the whole story was sparked by his unsolved murder.

How does your father-in-law fit into the story?

RHYS: My father-in-law was one of the founders of Imperial Airways, later one of the heads of British Airways. He was on the first flight down to South Africa and sent letters home describing each stage. So everything is authentic in my story.

What’s next for Georgiana and Darcy?

RHYS: I thought they better have some peace at home for a while and I realized we hadn’t featured Georgie’s friend Belinda for a while. Since I know Cornwall well I thought it might be fun to take Georgie there and decided to do a homage to Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.

Thank you for this interview. I do hope everyone enjoys the book.

An Interview with Rhys Bowen by E. B. Davis

In the days leading up to her wedding to Darcy O'Mara, Lady Georgiana Rannoch takes on the responsibilities of a grand estate, but proving she can run a household just may be the death of her in the new Royal Spyness Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service.

If only Darcy and I had eloped! What I thought would be a simple wedding has been transformed into a grand affair, thanks to the attendance of the queen, who has offered up the princesses as bridesmaids. Silly me! I thought that withdrawing from the royal line of succession would simplify my life. But before Darcy and I tie the knot in front of queen and country, we have to find a place to live as man and wife...

House hunting turns out to be a pretty grim affair. Just as we start to lose hope, my globetrotting godfather offers us his fully staffed country estate. Mistress of Eynsleigh I shall be! With Darcy off in parts unknown, I head to Eynsleigh alone, only to have my hopes dashed. The grounds are in disarray and the small staff is suspiciously incompetent. Not to mention the gas tap leak in my bedroom, which I can only imagine was an attempt on my life. Something rotten is afoot--and bringing the place up to snuff may put me six feet under before I even get a chance to walk down the aisle...

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Rhys Bowen’s newest Royal Spyness Mystery, Four Funerals and Maybe A Wedding, captivated my attention. I sunk into the book with abandon. That should be a good thing, but for me, it was not.

As a writer and an interviewer, I read books from a professional point-of-view. Usually. As I read, I’d catch myself fifty pages further along without having taken a single note or highlighted a passage. This has happened in the past while reading Rhys’s books, but there was a difference with this book.

In previous books in the series, main character Lady Georgiana Rannoch, spies for Queen Mary. In this episode, Georgie must spy for herself, and the Queen adds complications rather than provides solutions. It’s a refreshing twist.

While I’m sure Georgiana will spy for the Queen again and perhaps get involved with her fiancé’s undercover missions, I found this interlude of Georgiana working for herself to be a wonderful prelude and learning experience for her future life. What especially surprised me—who acted as her support and sidekick. I’ll say no more.

Please welcome Rhys Bowen back to WWK.                                                                           E. B. Davis 

Have you heard if any of the British royalty reads your books?

I haven’t. I’ve been tempted to send a book to Princess Kate, and now to Meghan. I actually have connections to the latter as my daughter is good friends with her mom. I think they’d get a good chuckle, don’t you?

In 2015, the rules of succession changed. What were the changes?

Until then the oldest son was the heir, followed by any other sons ahead of any daughters. The rule has now changed so that if a girl is born first she will be queen. Princess Charlotte is right in line behind Prince George and ahead of Prince Louis.

Who placed Darcy and Georgianna’s engagement announcement in the Times?

That was Darcy’s job!

These days, wedding planning is a career and months, if not years, are spent planning the wedding. Darcy and Georgianna are to be married within a month. Were times different then?

Yes, I think that weddings were much less elaborate affairs in those days. Most weddings were a service in church followed by a lunch or just by cake and champagne, toasts and speeches. Then the bride changed into her going-away outfit, rice was thrown as the couple ran to their car and that was it!

If Georgie’s had been a real royal wedding (if she had married Prince Siegfried, for example!!) then it would have been more formal, with lots of protocol etc.

To marry Darcy, Georgianna must withdraw from the royal line of succession to the throne (even though she’s thirty-fourth in line). Why, and how will this effect Georgianna and her relationship to the King and Queen?

We’ll have to see. She probably won’t be invited to official royal occasions, but the queen is clearly fond of her and she will be included in family gatherings. She is still a cousin, after all.

Why does Georgianna stay with Princess Zou Zou at her Eaton Square house rather than at Rannoch House in London?

Would you want to stay with Fig?

Queenie, Georgianna’s maid for lack of a better term, is off in Ireland learning to cook. How did that come about?

In the book Crowned and Dangerous Queenie follows Georgie to Ireland and shows that she has some talent for cooking when she helps out in Darcy’s great-aunt’s chaotic house. It’s the sort of place where nobody minds if you set fire to something, so she fits in well there! It will be seen if she fits in equally well in a proper household.

Why does Georgianna note that, “…too-perfect maids aren’t always desirable.”?

You would have to read the book “On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service” to find that out. The Contessa has a perfect maid who tends to Georgie, however……

The queen expects Georgianna to invite all the royal houses of Europe to her wedding. Will having the princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, as bridesmaids be enough to appease the queen?

It will have to be! Georgie only wanted a simple wedding, small church, a few friends and the last thing she wants is the crowned heads of Europe showing up. If this is not good enough for the queen, then too bad. It’s Georgie’s wedding, after all!

Belinda, Georgianna’s friend and upcoming dress designer, is designing and making her wedding dress. But when Georgianna hates Belinda’s design, she must be honest with her. Whether the queen, Belinda, or Georgianna’s mother, Georgianna must assert herself. How does she manage to win without offense?

I think this book shows Georgie learning to assert herself in many ways. Until now she has found it hard to say no to other people (especially the queen). But she wants her wedding to be the way she pictures it, and she is growing up too. Until now she has been at the mercy of other people, no place of her own or place in the world. Now she is marrying Darcy, she has somewhere to live and these give her confidence. She risks Belinda’s wrath by turning down the first design for her dress. She has to let the queen know, politely of course, that she will not have the big state wedding the queen wants. And most of all, she has to learn to run a large house and estate. It is a true growing experience.

Sir Hubert Anstruther, a former husband of Georgianna’s mother, wanted to adopt Georgianna, but had no legal right. How does she end up being his sole heir?

That story played out in the first book in the series, Her Royal Spyness. I don’t want to tell you here, as it would spoil that story if you haven’t read it!

Sir Hubert makes Georgianna a grand offer, which she readily accepts having fond memories of his estate, Eynsleigh. Why doesn’t Georgianna have the authority to make needed changes at the mansion?

Georgie would like to make changes, but the servants insist they were hired by Sir Hubert and thus can only be fired by him. Georgie isn’t sure how far her authority stretches and certainly doesn’t want to offend Sir Hubert by getting rid of servants he liked.

When Max von Strohheim calls off the wedding to Georgianna’s mother due to his father’s death, she comes to live with Georgianna at Eynsleigh, which is fortuitous. Her mother can’t pull off being in mourning and Georgianna needs allies against the staff. How does Georgianna use her mother to aid her?

Georgie’s mother is a famous actress. She is able to act in any way Georgie wants, most importantly act as if everything is going smoothly when it isn’t. In spite of her self-centeredness and her supposedly delicate constitution, she proves herself to be a tough little lady.

Knowing she needs an ally on the staff, Georgianna writes to Queenie, who comes to Eynsleigh to help. Why does Queenie battle with the cook?

The cook is a flamboyant and hostile Spaniard who can’t or won’t cook English food.

Georgianna has come to rely on Darcy’s experience, and yet she finds that he isn’t much help in wedding planning or in managing an estate. Why can’t he be of more help?

Wedding planning in those days was the job of the bride’s family. The groom chose his guests and best man, paid for the bouquets and showed up for the wedding. But Darcy has some kind of undercover job we are not sure about. He is always being sent to undesirable parts of the world, and he never turns down a chance to make money, being as impecunious as Georgie is.

The year of this book, 1935, was pivotal and preceded many calamitous world events. You touched on Georgianna’s mother’s relationship to Max von Strohheim, who was a German industrialist in business with the Nazis. What other events soon occur?   

We are getting to a turning point in history, as you pointed out. At the end of this year the king will die. The Prince of Wales will become Edward VIII and tell parliament he wants to marry Mrs. Simpson. Parliament will say no, and he will abdicate, leaving the throne to his brother, the Duke of York, father of Elizabeth and Margaret. At the same time Hitler has consolidated his power in Germany and will start making open hostility against the Jewish population in Germany. Georgie’s mother is lucky she is no longer in Germany!

Queen Mary (May) was concerned about her son Edward, who would inherit the throne, due to his lack of protocol and love life, which she asked Georgiana to monitor and report. We haven’t heard much about George, her second son. Will we?

Her second son is not George, but Albert (Bertie to his family). He is the Duke of York, married to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and father of Elizabeth and Margaret. When he becomes king he will take the name George VI in memory of his father. We do hear about him from time to time in the books, especially in Royal Flush where Georgie interacts with her cousins, but since he lives a happy and blameless life with his family he is not much involved in murder mysteries.

In Farleigh Field, your first single-title book was nominated for an Edgar and won a Lefty Award and an Agatha Award. Now, The Tuscan Child, your second single title, is on the bestseller list. Will this success pull you from your series writing?

I am absolutely thrilled at the success of my two stand-alone novels and look forward to writing many more. They give me the kind of freedom one doesn’t get from a series, and who would turn down the chance to write books that sell over 300,000 copies? But do not fear—I love Georgie and intend to keep following her crazy and unsettled life for quite a while yet.

I have put Molly Murphy on hold, however. I love visiting with her but I have written 17 books in that series. Molly is in a good place with a husband and a child and it becomes less and less plausible that she would carry on her detective work. I hope to revisit her at some time but at the moment it’s more stand-alones.