Above
the Bay of Angels. Rhys Bowen. Amazon Publishing. February 11, 2020. pb, 348 pp.;
ISBN #: 9781542008259.
Queen
Victoria is older and Albert has died.
Isabelle Waverly’s father life is slowly dulling because he drinks too much. His two daughters will be all right; one will
marry and the other one has unbelievable luck.
For she sees a woman die from being hit by a truck and she assumes the
identity of this woman who has been invited to Buckingham Palace. She has the background and becomes Helen Barton.
The
position is hers and she works so very hard at becoming a junior cook. Luck seems to follow her. Despite the mockery of Roland Barton, she
gets him a job as a follower of the Queen’s son. Others try to push her but she holds off many,
telling each she will not bed them as she is committed to honesty and integrity
that go with marriage. This makes for
many tight moments!
Then
one year the Queen decides to go to Nice in France! There she pleases the Queen with her scones
and her honesty. The beauty and food of
this locale please Helen and she learns to cook them via the French chef who
becomes a friend. She is challenged by
the death of a German prince and is judged guilty of murdering him with a
mushroom. She manages to find the guilty
party who did commit this horrendous crime and in so doing earns the care of
her peers.
Thus
she agrees to marry the French chef, Jean-Paul Lepin and open their own French
restaurant. Alive and moving beyond its
borders, this novel will satisfy you and also satisfy the mystery. It’s a tale told in simplicity and
honesty.
It’s
good, solid historical fiction that this reviewer highly recommends!
