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Rhys Bowen

Biography

Rhys Bowen

Rhys Bowen, a New York Times bestselling author, has been nominated for every major award in mystery writing, including the Edgar®, and has won many, including both the Agatha and Anthony awards. She is the author of the Royal Spyness Mysteries, set in 1930s London; the Molly Murphy Mysteries, set in turn-of-the-century New York; and the Constable Evans Mysteries, set in Wales. She was born in England and now divides her time between Northern California and Arizona.

Rhys Bowen

Books by Rhys Bowen

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

It's late 1936, and King Edward is in turmoil, having fallen in love with the scandalously divorced and even more scandalously American Wallis Simpson. He wants to marry her but knows that doing so will jeopardize his crown. Edward confides in his dear friend Darcy, Georgie's husband, and the couple agree to hide Wallis in their home while Edward figures out what to do. But unbeknownst to Georgie and Darcy, Sir Hubert, the owner of the estate, has given a film crew permission to shoot a motion picture about Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn on the grounds. Trying to keep Mrs. Simpson hidden while raising a newborn baby seems like it couldn't be any more stressful for the Rannochs, until one of the stars of the film is found murdered on set. Georgie must solve the murder for king and country before scandal threatens to envelop them all.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Back home at her estate in Eynsleigh, Lady Georgiana Rannoch impatiently awaits the birth of her baby. But she has plenty to occupy her: her new chef, Pierre, has arrived from Paris, and Sir Hubert, who owns Eynsleigh, is back from his latest expedition. It's time for Georgie to throw her first house party to celebrate his return and show off her new chef. One of the guests is Sir Mortimer Mordred, the author of creepy Gothic horror novels who recently purchased a nearby Elizabethan manor because it has a famous poison garden. He asks Georgie to borrow her new chef for his upcoming party. Shockingly, just after the banquet, several guests become sick. And one dies, apparently poisoned by berries from the garden. But how could this be when they all ate the same meal and the same delectable dessert?

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

London: 1968. Liz Houghton is languishing as an obituary writer at a London newspaper when a young girl’s disappearance captivates the city. If Liz can break the story, it’s her way into the newsroom. She already has a scoop: her best friend, Marisa, is a police officer assigned to the case. Liz follows Marisa to Dorset, where they make another disturbing discovery. Over two decades earlier, three girls disappeared while evacuating from London. One was found murdered in the woods near a train line. The other two were never seen again. As Liz digs deeper, she finds herself drawn to the village of Tydeham, which was requisitioned by the military during the war and left in ruins. After all these years, what could possibly link the missing girls to this abandoned village? And why does a place Liz has never seen before seem so strangely familiar?

by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

New York, 1908: The days are getting longer --- and warmer --- in Manhattan. Molly Murphy Sullivan doesn’t want to leave her home in the city, but typhoid is back, and she’s expecting. So she heads north with the children to summer with her mother-in-law in Westchester County. Her great friends, Sid and Gus, are headed to the Catskills to visit Sid’s family. Though her mother-in-law is a surprisingly excellent host, Molly quickly grows bored. And when Sid and Gus invite her to visit, Molly jumps at the chance to stay with them at an artist’s community. But Sid isn’t so enthusiastic about having to visit her family in the nearby Jewish bungalow community. Deep in the Catskills, tensions are running high, and it’s not long before a body delays Molly’s return to Westchester.

by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Former private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan and her policeman husband, Daniel, have built quite a life for themselves in Greenwich Village. They have a good marriage, a true partnership where they value each other’s opinions in all things. So when he tells her they’re moving to a fancy home on Fifth Avenue --- and that he’s running for the sheriff of New York --- Molly is left reeling. Daniel begs Molly to trust him. But why would he run for sheriff on the Tammany ticket? A party known more for kickbacks and quid pro quo than anything else, it used to be everything Daniel despised. So what’s changed? And why didn’t he discuss it with her beforehand? Molly can’t help but wonder what Daniel has gotten himself tangled up in…and if he needs her help to get out.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

When I receive a letter from my glamorous best friend, Belinda, Darcy suggests we take a trip to Paris to visit her. It seems he also has a spot of business of which to take care, so I will be staying in Belinda’s flat as she works feverishly on Coco Chanel’s fall collection. Darcy has asked me to take on a small chore as a part of his latest assignment. I am to covertly retrieve something from an attendee of Coco’s show. It seems easy enough, but I discover that this little errand could have terrifying consequences for a world on the brink of war. When things go horribly wrong, I am left to find a killer all while trying to fend off a French policeman who is certain that I am a criminal mastermind.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Londoner Madeleine Grant is studying at the Sorbonne in Paris when she marries charismatic French journalist Giles Martin. As they raise their son, Olivier, they hold on to a tenuous promise for the future. Until the thunder of war sets off alarms in France. Staying behind to join the resistance, Giles sends Madeleine and Olivier to the relative safety of England, where Madeleine secures a job teaching French at a secondary school. Yet nowhere is safe. After a devastating twist of fate resulting in the loss of her son, Madeleine accepts a request from the ministry to aid in the war effort. Seizing the smallest glimmer of hope of finding Giles alive, she returns to France. If Madeleine can stop just one Nazi, it will be the start of a valiant path of revenge.

by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Now that she’s no longer a private detective, Molly Murphy Sullivan is looking forward to a time of settled tranquility with friends and family. Back in New York, where her own story began, Molly decides to accompany some friends to Ellis Island to help distribute clothing to those in need. This journey quickly stirs up memories for Molly. That evening, her policeman husband, Daniel, comes home with a tale to tell: there was a murder on Ellis Island that day, and the main suspect is the spitting image of Molly. The circumstances are eerily similar to when Molly herself arrived on Ellis Island, and she can’t help but feel a sense of fate. Molly was meant to be there that day so that she can clear this woman’s name.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Darcy’s aunt Ermintrude has moved to a house on the edge of the Sandringham estate, near the royal family, and wants to invite her nephew and his new bride, Georgie, for Christmas. Georgie soon learns that the notorious Mrs. Simpson, mistress to the Prince of Wales, also will be in attendance. It is now crystal clear to Georgie that the Queen expects her to do a bit of spying. There have been a couple of strange accidents at the estate recently. Two gentlemen of the royal household have died under mysterious circumstances, and another has been shot by mistake during a hunt. Georgie begins to suspect that a member of the royal family is the real target, but her investigation will put her new husband and love of her life in the crosshairs of a killer.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

London, 1940. Bombs fall, and Josie Banks’ world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home is a ruin of rubble and ash. Evacuated to the English countryside, Josie ends up at the estate of the aristocratic Miss Harcourt, a reluctant host to the survivors of the Blitz. Josie convinces Miss Harcourt to let her open a humble tea shop, seeing it as a chance for everyone to begin again. When Josie meets Mike Johnson, a handsome Canadian pilot stationed at a neighboring bomber base, a growing intimacy brings her an inner peace she’s never felt before. Then Stan returns from the war. Now a threat looms larger than anyone imagined. And a dangerous secret is about to upend Josie’s life again.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Georgie’s best friend, Belinda, inherits a spooky house in Cornwall and asks Georgie to go with her to inspect the property. When they arrive, they meet Rose, a woman Belinda knew as a child when she spent her summers with her grandmother in Cornwall. Rose is now married to Tony Summers, Belinda’s childhood crush, but confides that she thinks Tony killed his first wife. She asks Georgie and Belinda to observe Tony’s behavior and their surroundings. But during a thunderstorm, the lights go out and Tony is found dead. All clues point to Belinda as the prime suspect. Now Georgie must uncover the secrets that led to Tony’s death and find out if he was villain or victim before Belinda takes the fall for his murder.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys and a final whisper…Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than 60 years. It’s 1938 when art teacher Juliet Browning arrives in romantic Venice. She has a chance to reconnect with Leonardo Da Rossi, the man she loves whose future is already determined by his noble family. However star-crossed, nothing can come between them. Until the threat of war closes in on Venice and they’re forced to fight, survive and protect a secret that will bind them forever.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Georgie is excited when Darcy announces out of the blue that they are flying to Kenya for their extended honeymoon. It is only after they arrive that she suspects he has actually been sent there on an assignment. Darcy finally confides that there have been some spectacular robberies in London and Paris, and it is suspected that the thief was a member of the aristocracy and may have fled to Kenya. One of the leading lights in the community, Lord Cheriton, makes a play for Georgie. She rebuffs him. Then he is found dead along a lonely stretch of road. At first it seems to be a lion attack. But why was he on that stretch of road, alone, late at night? As Georgie and Darcy investigate, almost everyone has a motive to want Lord Cheriton dead.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Isabella Waverly only means to comfort the woman felled on a London street. In her final dying moments, she thrusts a letter into Bella’s hand. It’s an offer of employment in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, and everything the budding young chef desperately wants: an escape from the constrictions of her life as a lowly servant. In the stranger’s stead, Bella can spread her wings. Arriving as Helen Barton from Yorkshire, she pursues her passion for creating culinary delights, served to the delighted Queen Victoria herself. Best of all, she’s been chosen to accompany the queen to Nice. What fortune! Until the threat of blackmail shadows Bella to the Riviera, and a member of the queen’s retinue falls ill and dies.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction

As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong 21-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage. When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. The journals inspire Emily, and in the wake of devastating news, they are her saving grace.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept. Not long after they arrive, however, they learn that the host couple's young daughter wandered out into the snow 10 years ago and was never seen again. Molly can identify with the mother's pain at never knowing what happened to her child, but she slowly begins to suspect that the occupants of the house know more than they are letting on. Then, on Christmas Eve, there is a knock at the door and a young girl stands there. "I'm Charlotte," she says. "I've come home."

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

In the days leading up to her wedding to Darcy O'Mara, Lady Georgiana Rannoch takes on the responsibilities of a grand estate, but proving she can run a household just may be the death of her in this new Royal Spyness Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of ON HER MAJESTY’S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

When royal sleuth Georgie Rannoch receives a letter from her dearest friend Belinda, who’s awaiting the birth of her illegitimate baby, she yearns to run to her side. If only she could find a way to get there! But then opportunity presents itself in a most unexpected way --- her cousin the queen asks her to attend a house party in the Italian Lake Country. The Prince of Wales AND the dreadful Mrs. Simpson have been invited, and Her Majesty is anxious to thwart a possible secret wedding. What luck! A chance to see Belinda, even if it is under the guise of stopping unwanted nuptials. Only that’s as far as Georgie’s fortune takes her. She soon discovers that she attended finishing school with the hostess of the party --- and the hatred they had for each other then has barely dimmed.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction

In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal. Nearly 30 years later, Hugo’s estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father’s funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation. As a result, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father’s history --- and maybe come to understand herself as well.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Nothing is simple when you’re 35th in line for the British crown, least of all marriage. But with love on their side and plans to elope, Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her beau, Darcy O’Mara, hope to bypass a few royal rules. Throwing their cares to the wind, nothing could deter them from their mission --- except the news that Georgie’s future father-in-law has just been arrested for the murder of a wealthy American. With the elopement postponed, they head for Ireland where Darcy’s father insists he’s innocent, and it’s up to Georgie and Darcy to prove it --- for better or worse.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

The new police commissioner wants Molly Murphy Sullivan's husband, Daniel, off the police force altogether. So when Daniel is offered an assignment from John Wilkie, head of the secret service, he’s eager to accept. Molly can’t draw any details of the assignment out of him, even where he’ll be working. But then she receives a strange and cryptic letter from him, leading her to conclude that he wants her to join him in San Francisco. Embarking on a cross-country journey with her young son, Molly can’t fathom what’s in store for her, but she knows it could be dangerous --- in fact, it might put all of their lives at risk.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham’s middle daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has her own secret: she has taken a job at Bletchley Park, the British code-breaking facility. As Ben follows a trail of spies and traitors, he discovers that some within the realm have an appalling, history-altering agenda. Can he, with Pamela’s help, stop them before England falls?

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

It's Christmastime in 1905 New York City. While listening to carolers in the street, Molly Murphy Sullivan meets two siblings who have come from England. Their mother has disappeared, and they're living with an aunt who mistreats them terribly. Molly quickly realizes that these children are not the usual city waifs. They are well-spoken and clearly used to better things. So who are they? And what's happened to their mother? As Molly looks for a way to help them and for the answers to these questions, she gets drawn into an investigation that will take her up to the highest levels of New York society.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Molly Murphy Sullivan’s husband, Daniel, a captain in the New York City police force, is chasing a murderer whose victims have nothing in common --- except for the taunting notes that are delivered to him after each murder. And when Daniel receives a note immediately after Molly and her young son, Liam, are in a terrible train crash, Daniel and Molly both begin to fear that maybe Molly herself was the target.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Caught between her high birth and empty purse, Lady Georgiana Ranoch is glad to get a new assignment from the Queen --- especially one that includes lodging in the supposedly haunted Kensington Palace. As companion to Princess Marina of Greece, who is to marry the King’s youngest son, Georgie expects to live the high life --- until she stumbles across a dead body.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Molly and Daniel Sullivan are settling happily into the new routines of parenthood, but their domestic bliss is shattered the night a gang retaliates against Daniel for making a big arrest. Daniel wants his family safely out of New York City as soon as possible, so Molly agrees to take their young son, Liam, on the long journey to Paris to stay with her friends. But upon arriving in the City of Lights, nothing goes as planned.

by Rhys Bowen - Fiction, Mystery

Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 35th in line for the British throne, knows how to play the part of an almost royal. But now she’s off to Hollywood, where she must reprise her role as sleuth or risk starring in an all-too-convincing death scene.

by Rhys Bowen - Mystery

 

When a trip to the post office brings a letter addressed to her old detective agency asking her to locate a missing Irish serving maid, Molly Murphy --- now Molly Sullivan --- figures it couldn’t hurt to at least ask around. On the same day, Molly learns that five babies have been kidnapped in the past month. What she uncovers will lead her on a terrifying journey through all levels of society, putting her life --- and that of her baby --- in danger.

by Rhys Bowen - Mystery

Molly Murphy, now Molly Sullivan, and her husband have been invited to spend their honeymoon on the Newport, RI, estate of Alderman Brian Hanna in the spring of 1904, but Molly doesn’t entirely trust the offer. Hanna---an ambitious man---has his eye on a senate seat and intentions of taking Tammany Hall to get it, and when when Hanna is found dead at the base of the cliffs that overlook the Atlantic, Molly’s suspicions are quickly justified.

by Rhys Bowen - Mystery

Lady Georgiana Rannoch has once again been called into service by Her Majesty the Queen. This time she's sent to Nice on a secret assignment that's nothing to sneeze at --- recover the Queen's stolen snuff box.

by Rhys Bowen - Mystery

Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line for the throne, is flat broke. She?s bolted Scotland, her greedy brother, and her fish-faced betrothed for London. The place where she?ll experience freedom, learn life lessons aplenty, do a bit of spying for HRH?oh, and find a dead Frenchman in her tub. Now her new job is to clear her long family name.