Sarah

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Sarah is Currently Reading

Sarah is currently reading

Mermaid in Manhattan

by Jessica Gadziala (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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May 11, 2026 07:32PM

Sarah is currently reading

Just Ignore Him

by Alan Davies

bookshelves: currently-reading, memoir

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May 05, 2026 09:13PM

Sarah is currently reading

The Twelve Clues of Christmas (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries, #6)

by Rhys Bowen (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: 1930s, historical-mystery, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2020

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Sarah said: " 'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me—well, actually, my true love, Darcy O’Mara, is spending a feliz navidad tramping around South America. Meanwhile Mummy is holed up in a tiny village called Tiddleton-under-Lovey with that droll 'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me—well, actually, my true love, Darcy O’Mara, is spending a feliz navidad tramping around South America. Meanwhile Mummy is holed up in a tiny village called Tiddleton-under-Lovey with that droll Noel Coward! And I’m snowed in at Castle Rannoch with my bumbling brother, Binky, and sourpuss sister-in-law, Fig.

So it’s a miracle when I contrive to land a position as hostess to a posh holiday party in Tiddleton. The village is like something out of A Christmas Carol! But no sooner have I arrived than a neighborhood nuisance, a fellow named Freddie, falls out of a tree dead. On my second day, another so-called accident results in a death – and there’s yet another on my third. Perhaps a recent prison break could have something to do with it…that, or a long-standing witch’s curse. But after Darcy shows up beneath the mistletoe, anything could be possible in this wicked wonderland.'
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4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 stars.

The Twelve Clues of Christmas is the sixth book in Rhys Bowen's A Royal Spyness Mystery series and follows the awkwardly clumsy yet charming Lady Georgiana Rannoch. A very whimsical holiday mystery based off of the well-known carol, The 12 Days of Christmas.

This is the first book that Belinda hasn't made an unexpected appearance after charming herself an invitation, which I think it was for the best. It would stretch belief if in every book Gerogie, Darcy, and Belinda always manage to appear in the same location independently where murders also happen to occur. Plus Belinda often overshadows Georgie who is more shy by nature and I wanted Georgie to have the opportunity to shine all on her own.

It did seem to me that there had been some editing issues with this book. Two instances stood out to me where a character didn't seem to remember having a specific piece of information or clue when they had recently learned of it only the chapter or so before. It wasn't a huge deal, but it did impede the sleuthing temporarily because it gave the impression of a character ignoring something obviously relevant to sorting things out with what was going on.

It was sweet that Georgie was able to have her some of her family together for the holiday without the shadow of Fig hanging over her, even if they weren't all under the same roof. Georgie so often seems lonely, floating about like a shadow in the background of others' lives so it was lovely that she was able to have her favorite person nearby for the holidays.

Loved the action at the end and the hint of the paranormal, that was my favorite bit of the whole book. And this book had so many victims and so many moving pieces, it was really interesting to follow the net closing in around the culprits.

As much of a dear Darcy is and how much I adore his character, I was ready to slap that boy for shrugging off Georgie's concerns for as long as he did. For a man that does some covert work for England, he really was blind to an increasing body count and laundry list of clues for far too long. I found it truly shocking how dense he was in this book and his continued belief it wasn't suspicious that there were so many seeming accidents day after day was making him look quite stupid. I hope he is in better form for the next book and not so ready to brush Georgie's concerns away. She has a knack for stepping into dangerous situations, why not just automatically assume that she is always mixed up in some plot or another.

Overall though, I really enjoyed The Twelve Clues of Christmas and it has been one of my favorite of the series so far. The guide at the end of the book to traditional English holiday customs and activities was a real treat(pun intended), I'll definitely be trying my hand at some of the recipies included this holiday season. Looking forward to the next book in the series! ...more "

Nov 04, 2020 01:01PM · see review

See all 5 books that Sarah is reading…