Second sneak preview of Heirs and Graces

One month to the publication date of Heirs and Graces. So today is sneak preview 2.

And if you come on over to my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/rhysbowenauthor I'm conducting a poll on who is your favorite Royal Spyness character. You can vote for team Georgie, Team Darcy, Granddad, Belinda, Queenie, Mummy or even Team Fig (Yes, some people have already voted for her).

so enjoy this snippet and you can pre-order on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Then the drive turned a corner and I think I actually gasped. There was the house—an enormous and elegant building of mellowed gray stone, four stories high and beautifully proportioned, surrounded by manicured lawns and formal gardens. In front of the pillared main entrance was an ornamental lake complete with swans. The house was set on a rising slope of  hillside which at this time of year was covered in a carpet of daffodils.  As we came out of the trees the sun appeared from behind the clouds and suddenly the house was perfectly reflected in the lake. My spirit soared. I was going to be staying at this attractive place for the immediate future, with duties no more onerous than teaching a young Australian which fork to use at dinner. For once I could look forward to an enjoyable time ahead.

Dishing on Downton, Final Week.

Spoiler alert. Don't read on if you haven't watched the final episode yet.

For those of you who have--what a roller coaster, wasn't it? So much covered in one episode. And all the time waiting for doom to strike. Since I had read that the actor who plays Matthew was leaving the show I knew that something bad was about to happen to him. So when he went out with a gun, got on a train I was sitting on the edge of my seat. And then when he and Mary and the baby were so happy together I knew he'd never make it home alive.

Now I wonder how successful a new season can be. Wasn't the whole glue that kept us watching the love story between Mary and Matthew? The family is going to get naughty Rose, but she won't make up for the ones we have lost.

I liked the storyline with the servants this week, didn't you? And I like the way they have become people we know and care about. Mrs. Patmore and her suitor, Mrs. Hughes showing such a caring nature, and Thomas and Jimmy sorting things out. All good. And Daisy now seems to be friends with the new kitchen maid.

But sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Bates--too syrupy for words. I want them to be happy... but...enough already.

I wonder if anything will become of Isobel and the doctor? That was a nice little cameo too, wasn't it?

And one thing I loved personally was the whole Scottish environment. The castle, the piper, the stalking and the clouds over the green Scottish hills are exactly like Lady Georgie's home at Castle Rannoch in my Royal Spyness books. And the great hall with all the weapons and stag's heads. And the piper waking them each morning. All so familiar. It was almost as if my books had come to life.

So what did you think? Satisfactory or not? Did you know that Matthew was going to leave and thus had to be written out? Was this season a let-down? Do you think it can still go on successfully?Will you still watch next year? I expect I will.

Mayhem at the Manor

Sorry I've been quiet for a few days. Touring around Engand and meeting old friends, none of whom had wifi and only strange old computers. I've also been dealing with English weather--absolute downpours for several days. Now I'm finally in Cornwall.

If you want to know where I get the inspiration for the Lady Georgie books--I can tell you. I'm at my sister-in-law's manor house where a big party is to be held this weekend. One son celebrates his 50th birthday, another his 40th. So the whole family is here. We were 16 at dinner last night. More arriving today. There is a big marquee on the lawn, decorated inside with trees, flowers, fairylights. 2 bands are coming.


It's the classic grand English party--exactly the sort of thing that Lady Georgie would attend. Pimms to drink, lots of people with funny names, definintely a crazy stunt or two. I'll take pictures and post them tomorrow.

And watch out for a story about a manor house and a party like this coming out in October....

Guess where I went yesterday?
No, not the Olympics but to Buckingham Palace. I'm afraid I wasn't invited to tea with the queen (although I did really have tea with her when I was young). The queen wasn't even in residence and I went as an ordinary tourist. But I'd never been round all the state rooms before and since my heroine Lady Georgie is always popping in to the palace to see her relatives I wanted to soak up as much atmosphere as possible.

And the interesting this was this overwhelming sense of deja vue. We entered through the Ambassador's Entrance and my first thought was oh yes, I remember Georgie came in this way once. We stood looking onto the huge central quadrangle and I found myself looking up at the rooms to my left--the private apartments of the royal family. Ah yes--Georgie was up there once and nearly knocked over the queen when she tripped over a footman's foot. (Now I know why they are called footmen!)

As we progressed through the rooms I kept seeing large and valuable objects that might be knocked over by someone rather clumsy like Georgie (or me?) And I was astounded that we were walking on lovely, lovely carpets throughout the palace. No strip down for us peasants. I asked one of the young girl wardens how often the carpets need to be cleaned. "Well they are good quality carpets, you know," she said.

At the end of the tour we find ourselves at the palace cafe and the palace shop. The shop is full of lovely things at a very lovely price. I'm sure it costs a lot to keep a house with 247 bedrooms going, so I bite the bullet and buy a little gold crown to go around my neck (for when I do talks and signings of course). And a complete guide to the palace to remind me.

But I draw the line at towels with Buckingham Palace on them--I would be rather pretentious to dry one's back on the queen's monogram, don't you think?

We exit through the gardens, around a pretty lake and through quite dense shrubbery (a potential place for evil deeds in a future book??)

All in all very useful (and reaffirming that I really did get it right in all the books) and at least now I'll know where I'm going when I arrive to be made a dame!  (My husband commented that I'll come from a-broad to become a dame)

Reading up a Storm

There are good things about being stuck in a chair for six weeks. One is that I can look out of the window and see interesting things--like the heron that flew over the other day, or this little scene that went on right below my window:

The other good thing is that I've had time to read. I don't usually read fiction when I'm writing a book because I tend to pick up the other author's voice. However six weeks with nothing else to do was too tempting. I found that I felt like nostalgia, safety, comfort food reading. So far I've read Kate Morton's The House at Riverton (having LOVED the Forgotten Garden), The House at Tyneford --I'm obviously going through my House AT phase--which I also enjoyed, Jacqueline Winspear's Elegy for Eddie (terrific), and I've just finished Nancy Mitford's Don't Tell Alfred. Nancy Mitford's first person voice is so perfect for when I'm writing the Lady Georgie books. She IS the British upper class in the 1930s. She reminds me of women who were friends of my aunt, teachers at my school whose voices are now fading in my memory.

I have other books waiting to be read but you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to re-read The Lord of the Rings, something I haven't done for probably twenty years. When I was young I re-read that book every six months. I knew it by heart. When I took my daughter Clare around Europe we played non-stop LOTR trivia games, waking each other in train carriages to ask, "What was the name of the Ent who...." 

So now I need to revisit it with fresh eyes. To see how much I remember. Have you ever had one book that has been part of your life like that?

Sunday Sneak Preview

Today I achieved a milestone--which feels good when one is stuck in a chair and unable to do normal activities. I reached page 100 in my new book!

I hadn't intended to start the book until next month, but since I'm incapacitated and a virtual prisoner I decided I might as well start it early. It's the seventh Lady Georgie book, called Heirs and Graces and can be described as Crocodile Dundee meets Downton Abbey.

So I've decided to start a new feature on my blog and give readers a sneak preview of what I'm writing each Sunday. Here is page 100:

I was making my way down again when I heard a scream. I started to run. The descent seemed to take forever and by the time I reached the gardens around the house a group of people was gathered.

“It’s all right. They are quite safe,” I heard Edwina’s powerful voice. “Do stop making such a fuss, Irene.”

“But he was throwing a knife at Katherine,” she said. “He missed her by that much.”

I joined the group. Jack was standing sheepishly off to one side with the twins. I went over to them. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“Jack was demonstrating how he could throw a knife,” Nick said. “It was brilliant, actually. So Kat said could he hit an apple on her head, like William Tell. And he told her to stand still and then he threw the knife into the tree right above her head. Pretty impressive only mummy was looking out of her window and absolutely had a fit.”

“I might have done too,” I said. “It was rather silly, Jack. If you want to make a good impression you don’t try and kill your relatives.”

“They were perfectly safe. I didn’t even throw it that close to her.”

“And what’s more..,” Irene was still shrieking. “He was teaching them to sharpen sticks and spear fish in the Koi pond. He’s dangerous, mother. You know how impressionable the children are. For God’s sake send him away before he does anyone real harm.”

“Irene, do calm down. I remember your brother Johnnie doing rather the same sort of thing when you were young.”

“Yes, and look what happened to him—fathered a child with a common nobody in the back of beyond and then got himself killed by being too damned heroic.”

“He acted honorably in both instances, which is more than can be said for your husband.”

“That’s a cruel blow, Mama. I’m not staying here any longer. I want the children away from this place right now. We’re going up to London. Nicholas, Katherine, come with me.”

And she stalked off into the house.

e's a peek at page 100:

A Gift of Time

So here I am unable to move for a month and already feeling cooped up and impatient. I'm essentially an outdoor girl and even when I'm writing I tend to get up, wander round the garden and come back refreshed. But I've decided to stay entirely positive and see the good in this experience.

How many times have I said that I'd love to have a reading orgy or finally master water color or finish that sweater I started knitting. Or even do the big jigsaw my daughter bought me last year. Well, now I can. It's just a question of finding a chair I can sit comfortably in for more than fifteen minutes. I read an old Agatha Christie yesterday--one of the few that I couldn't remember whodunit. And I didn't remember until the end so that was good.

Now I've decided that I'll work my way through all the old Mary Stewarts. I used to love those books. They took me to exotic places and the female in jeopardy part was so real and fun that I identified with it. I wonder if they have them on Kindle. About to look. I think Wildfire at Midnight or Madam Will You Talk were my favorites. How about you?

And any other comfort books to recommend? I've read the Alexander McCall Smiths. What I really want is some Rhys Bowen books that I haven't read! A new Lady Georgie please.