---

About The Book

---

Barb’s Review

Series: A Right Royal Cozy Investigation #4
Publication Date: 5/31/23
Period: Contemporary
Number of Pages: 315

What do you call a book that has a member of the royal family, an interior designer, a popular crime writer, a gruff policeman, and the cutest little dog you’ve ever met? Delightfully entertaining, witty, engrossing, and suspenseful, that’s what. The characters are wonderfully crafted and their personal dynamic will keep you grinning – even when the going gets serious.

Lady Beatrice and Perry Juke, her business partner and best friend, have undertaken the re-design of several of the bedrooms at Drew Castle, the king’s Scottish home. Perry’s partner in life, Simon Lattimore, also agreed to accompany them as long as he could get the quiet time he needed to work on his next book. That all goes well until a death occurs – in the middle of a blizzard – where they are snowed in and totally isolated. Well, almost totally isolated. It seems Lady Bea’s frenemy, Detective Chief Inspector Richard Fitzwilliam is visiting friends close by and is able to make the trek to the castle.

The victim is a guest at the shooting party hosted by Lady Bea’s brother, Fred – and because they are snowed in, they know the murderer has to be a member of the shooting party or one of the staff. It definitely doesn’t make anyone feel all warm and fuzzy to know they are trapped inside the castle walls with a murderer. Who among them could have wanted the young man dead?

It seems there are many reasons to want the young man dead – and more than one person at the castle who might have a reason to do it – but did they? If so, which one was it? You might be surprised – and you might not. You’ll just have to read the book to see. Of course, as always, Daisy, Lady Bea’s West Highland Terrier, sniffs out an all-important clue and helps to save the day.

While this book is part of a series, it can easily be read as a standalone. However, if you want to really understand the dynamic between the character and much of their backstories, you’ll want to read at least the first book in the series.

This is a witty and entertaining book filled with characters you’ll quickly come to love. You’ll also wonder if there is going to be a romantic relationship at some point between Fitzwilliam and Lady Bea. We already have one lovely romance between Perry and his partner Simon – but I’d like to see Lady Bea and Fitzwilliam find a loving relationship as well – whether it is with each other or someone else. I just simply need a romance to go along with my mystery.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

---

Author Bio

---

About The Book

TV Chef Luca Mazza Dies After Collapse at Food Show on the King’s Private Estate.

Luca Mazza (38), who was taken ill during a food demonstration at the Fenn House Food and Wine Festival two days ago, is now known to have ingested poison. Lady Beatrice (36), the king’s niece, who is working on a refurbishment project at Fenn House with her business partner Perry Juke (34), is believed to be comforting Luca’s boss and close friend Sebastiano Marchetti (38), who she began dating last month.

Is he crazy? Why else would Detective Chief Inspector Richard Fitzwilliam suggest that Sebastiano poisoned Luca without any evidence? So now, with the help of her little dog Daisy and her best friends Perry and Simon, Lady Beatrice will have to prove to Mr. Know-it-all Fitzwilliam that Seb is innocent. But with so many people having access to the food preparation area at the show, how will she find out who did murder Luca before Fitzwilliam lets his personal dislike get the better of him and arrests Seb?

Purchase Links

Amazon UK            Amazon US

Author Bio

Barbara’s Review

Lady Beatrice, Simon Lattimore, and Perry Juke are back at it again and totally at odds with Detective Chief Inspector Richard Fitzwilliam. If you’ve read the previous books, you know that Lady Beatrice and DCI Fitzwilliam always rub each other the wrong way.

A celebrity cooking event is being held at Fenn House, the king’s private estate in Fenshire.  Lady Beatrice and her business partner Perry Juke are at the estate to refurbish several rooms of Fenn House while Sebastiano Marchetti (Chef Seb) is there to oversee the cooking event which features several celebrity chefs.  If you read the second book in the series, you’ll know that Lady Beatrice and Chef Seb are dating.  However, Chef Seb sees it as a much more serious relationship than Lady Beatrice does.  For Lady Beatrice, the shine has begun to tarnish as she has gotten to know the chef better.

When celebrity chef Luca Mazza becomes ill at his demonstration and subsequently dies DCI Fitzwilliam has to investigate and decide if it is accidental or murder.  All of his hopes of Lady Beatrice and her cronies staying out of his investigation evaporate when he boldly tells her that it must be Sebastiano who did it.  Lady Beatrice, of course, was certain that Sebastiano didn’t do it and gleefully set about proving the obnoxious, overbearing Fitzwilliam wrong!

This was an interesting mystery with plenty of clues and dead ends to keep you wondering who did what to whom.  Of course, the star of the story is Daisy, Lady Beatrice’s West Highland Terrier who is cute, lovable, bold, protective, and a great judge of character.  I still don’t like Lady Beatrice’s mother, but she did come across as more likable in this story than she did in the last. 

I can definitely recommend this book with its intriguing mystery along with the good humor and lively banter among the recurring players. Should you choose to read it, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.