LADY GEORGIANA

       Lady Georgiana is a part-time agent for the British Secret Service.
       She is not a full-time operative because that is, well, just not a young woman of high society would do, of course, but then again one does what one must to survive in this world and besides, it is for the good of England and all that.
       Officially she is Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie Rannoch, 35th in line to the throne. She goes by the name Georgiana. Her grandfather was the first Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch. Her father was the second Duke whose first wife, daughter of a mostly penniless earl, bore him a son and then died. Dad remarried but this time picked an actress (!!). That marriage survived only until young Georgiana was two but Mom's long list of subsequent suitors (a race car driver, a movie producer, an explorer, and an industrialist, to name four) gave the young girl a glimpse of life outside the dreary castle.
       Father partied most of his money away or gambled it into other people's pockets and when the crash of '29 took what was left, he took his own life. Georgiana was 19 at the time. She had hardly known her now departed Dad so she was not totally devastated by his loss. It really meant there was just one more bedroom available at Castle Rannoch in Perthshire, Scotland. The castle and estate were not hers, of course, having that older brother, named Hamish but called Binky, married to Hilda but called Fig, but it was home to her when she needed it which as time progressed was less and less.
       Being penniless and needing to work in 1932, hardly the best of days for a young woman "of breeding" to find employment, she does what she can and more than once that will mean lending a helping hand to the Government, or to the Throne which might be more prestigious but unfortunately seems to pay a whole lot less.

       I like reading an occasional cozy mystery (I love watching them on television) and that is predominantly what the Lady Georgiana series is, with an occasional dab or two with cloak and dagger work. Wherever our Georgie goes, somebody dies and usually somebody she likes is the prime suspect. Comfortable plotting is a hallmark of a good cozy.
       But most important to that success is the main character with whom you invariably spend a lot of time. Lady G is a great character with which to while away the hours, especially late-night reading or when the weather outside is nasty. Her sense of humor, presented beautifully by the author, is terrific. She is by no means frivolous or silly but she does not take herself, or others, all that seriously. Pomposity is a favored target for her good-natured jabs.
       The adventures speed by and that is vital for a good cozy (well, any book actually) and when you finish one, you can look forward to the next one. The author has been kind enough to give us nearly a dozen as of this posting and I hope she will keep Lady G active for some time.