Malice at the Palace (Royal Spyness #9)

This was just terrible. I have been a fan of this series since book 1, however, I feel like the author was just phoning it in on this and the last installment. The story didn\’t move. The characters that make us readers keep coming back for more (Grandad, Belinda and Darcy) were given bit parts. At some point, Georgiana is going to have to grow as a character. Virtually nothing has changed in her life since we first met her in book one. We get it – she is poor, she is royal, she is a virgin. The book ends in a way that gives me hope the next installment will give us a little more personal progress for our protagonist, but I can\’t help but wonder if this carrot is just going to be dangled in front of us to ensure our return only be yanked away like the plot line in a bad telenovela sending Georgiana back to the poor, royal, virgin cycle discussed above. Rhys, we\’ve been with you and Georgie for a long time – we deserve better. SPOILER – * * * * * The ghosts save the day? Seriously?

Recently I have refrained from listening to the latest installments of the author\’s Molly Murphy series because of one simple reason: Daniel Sullivan. He\’s become an overbearing condecending pain in the lower back (which of course might be a reasonably way of portraying a guy from 1905) but it really ruins the series for me. NOW a similar thing started happening to this series in Malice at the Palace. While the story in this book is nothing special, is nice and twisty enough to compare to previous ones of the Royal Spyness series. However I had far less fun with it and I thought long and hard why that is. For once I find that the relationship between Georgie and Darcy seems to be only for effect and has become more or less irrelevant for the story itself. In addition Darcy, who used to be much more modern in his views than Daniel Sullivan, started showing the same attiudes in this book as his New York counterpart. Especially when it comes to chiding Georgie for getting envolved and sticking her neck in where it does not belong. In previous books I got the impression that Dary does not really approve but understands that Georgie is someone who always is at the wrong place at the wrong time and then can\’t let go until she has the solution. He even showed an amused kind of admiration for her qualities. Something that seemed to draw him to her. That impression vanished completely this time. I was hoping that the two might be working TOGETHER more in the future. Finding clues and putting everything together as a team instead of more or less bumping into each other by chance somewhere in the middle of the story, or Darcy coming to the rescue at the opportune moment. Also in my opinion the constant air of mystery the author tries to create around Darcy as well as Georgies permanent insecureties that he might dump or betray her are no longer working and are becoming quite tiresome Please let the two find some more common ground. They are on the same side after all and both working for the Crown in some capacity, so why not join forces and become the dynamic duo they are destined to be anyway? Oh and one more thing. Since Georgie\’s visit to the US her \”maid\” has been quite full of herself and at times treats Georgie as if the latter was the maid and seems to be getting worse in most respects. I think it\’s overdoing it a little. Even a walking disaster area as Queeny should be able to improve after such a long time. Well at least she\’s gotten over her fear of travel but the rest is really trying my sense of believability….

I have read or listened to all of the other titles in this series, and looked forward to this one, but somehow this one just didn\’t work for me. I think it is the over-the-top narration on this one. Every accent, every reaction, every word is a caricature. The posh accents were too snooty, even for royalty, and Queenie made me grit my teeth. I watch more BBC than American television, so I know British accents, and these are just too, too much. I listened to some of the previous novel again before writing this, and the narration here is very similar, but in this book, it just irritates me. I think the story is less engaging for one thing. I felt like this was just the same characters doing exactly the same things. I\’m tired of Georgie being poor and settling for whatever comes her way, putting up with selfish relatives and friends, stumbling into a mystery, and waiting around for Darcy. There, that\’s the whole book. Most of all, I\’m sick to death of Queenie. I know Georgie can\’t afford a top-notch maid, but the only murder I\’m interested in reading about right now is Queenie\’s. No sane person would put up with her. Georgie should fire her or kill her and get Darcy to help her hide the body. Kellgren\’s voicing of Queenie is loud, harsh, and grating, more so than in previous books. Maybe it\’s also just me getting tired of Belinda\’s selfishness, too, but I wanted to at least have the satisfaction of Georgie telling her off. Take my advice, pass on this one!

The story was okay. Not enough Darcy – Why? Queenie needs to grow up or get fired. Who would put up with her acting like a child? Really? Walking down the stairs in front of royalty with jam all over her face? Belinda is a user and should be discarded; since the last installment it became clear she was using Georgie for her connections. OR she needs to be more grateful for her relationship with Georgie. A LOT more. Please make the next installments more real.

I love this series, and Katherine Kellgren\’s narration really brings it to life, but that love does not blind me to the fact that this is definitely a sub-par entry. I don\’t do it very often, but I guessed the killer\’s identity the first time they were introduced. It was only their motive and a few minor details that got revealed in the end. After the exciting and varied locales of the previous novel Queen of Hearts, this one is mostly restricted to London and Georgie seems almost like a rat in a maze as she takes a bus here, the Underground there and a train somewhere else getting tiny bits of information that may or may not have anything to do with the main story. I thought that the Countess\’s difficulties with English were way overdone. I can understand that a non-native speaker would have difficulty with British idioms such as \”bangers and mash\” or British holidays such as Guy Fawkes\’ Day (an American would, too!) but to not understand a word like \’playboy\’, when she\’s an otherwise competent English-speaker is ridiculous. I could do with a lot less of Queenie. I get that she\’s comic relief, but honestly, even Georgie should have fired her by this time! Could she not become somewhat competent by now and find new places to screw up? Maybe in the print version she\’s more tolerable, but in the audiobook version she\’s so much louder than everyone else that it makes me jump every time she speaks. A major complaint is that Darcy doesn\’t show up until 2/3rds of the way through the book. He and Georgie make such a great team that I wish the author would just let them get together. (And the signs do look good at the end – so thank goodness for that!) There\’s also too little of Georgie\’s grandfather, who only gets a single brief visit. I had hoped that he would help her in her quest for a safecracker and that would produce some funny scenes à la Dorothy L. Sayers\’ Strong Poison, but that fizzled away into nothing. I know no fans will give this book a pass and it\’s OK for them, but newbies shouldn\’t start here, you\’ll wonder what all the fuss is about. And I will anxiously wait for the next entry.

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