Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding
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4.5 • 252 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
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...
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 globe-trotting 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...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Bowen's disappointing 12th Royal Spyness mystery (after 2017's On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service) lacks her usual charm. Lady Georgiana Rannoch, a distant and impoverished relative of the British royal family, is a month away from her July 1935 wedding to Darcy O'Mara. As she juggles logistical details, including the guest list and her attire, not to mention her insecurities about Darcy's faithfulness, her godfather, Sir Hubert Anstruther, offers her a welcome gift: his Sussex country estate, Eynsleigh, as her home. But on arrival at Eynsleigh, she finds a surly staff, neglected grounds, and indications that the household accounts have been faked. While she manages to adopt the persona of a forceful lady of the manor, her efforts to whip things into shape are impeded by her suspicions that the previous butler's fatal fall down the stairs was no accident and that her own life is in peril. The mystery element predominates, and fans will miss Georgie's hilariously inept maid, Queenie, who's offstage for the first half of the book.
Customer Reviews
Love this series, but....
I fell in love with this series right from the beginning. This installment is equally as good as the others, however as an audiobook listener, I’m finding it difficult listening to a new reader. I will need to read future installments.
enjoyable cozy mystery
Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding is a light, historical fiction, cozy mystery. The book is set in England, during the 1930s. Lady Georgianna Rannoch is thirty-fifth, in line for the throne. She decides, however, to throw away her royal heritage, and the stuffy prince that came with it, to marry Darcy O’Mara; a handsome Irishman. And, even though, Darcy’s hush-hush, questionable, occupation keeps him from Lady Georgie, for extended periods of time, she still wants to marry him.
Lady Georgie is delighted when she receives a letter from one of her ex-step-fathers, Sir Herbert. In his correspondence, Sir Herbert has offered Lady Georgie his estate in Eynslegh, to use. Since he’s often away for years at a time; he wants Lady Georgie to make it her home. Sir Herbert warns her, however, that something is not right at Eyslegh, but he doesn’t know what.
Lady Georgie was shocked at the condition of Sir Herbert’s estate. His once beautiful home was in shambles. And, the staff, heavens! Where did he ever hire them from? They were inept, rude and lazy. And, when she threatened to throw them all out, she was informed that only Sir Herbert could fire them. The problem was, though, Sir Herbert was somewhere in South America, climbing a mountain, and unreachable.
There was definitely something shady, going on at Eynslegh. The servants were lying to Lady Georgie, and stealing from the estate. But when someone tried to snuff Lady Georgie’s life out, well, that was the last straw. Lady Georgie wasn’t about to let a bunch of no-good, servants intimidate her. She was the mistress of Eynslegh, after all; and she would get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding is a well-written, over-the-top, humorous tale. If you don’t mind a bit of silliness, then this cozy mystery might be just the book for you.
Thank you, Berkley and Edelweiss, for my advanced review copy.
Another fun romp
Absolutely delightful! In a world full of awful headlines, these are just the escape I need.