A Royal Affair

The Right Sort Marriage Bureau, owned and operated by Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge, two ladies in their late twenties, is a daring venture in post-World War II London. Their latest client, Lady Matheson, works in ‘some capacity’ for the Queen of England. She wants the agency to look into the background of a suitor to a young lady, not an unusual assignment, except that the suitor happens to be a Greek prince and the young lady is Princess Elizabeth, heir to the throne.

Her request has been prompted by the arrival at the palace of an anonymous note demanding payment for letters missing ever since a member of British Intelligence helped spirit the Greek royal family away from a villa in Corfu shortly after World War I. It soon becomes apparent that the assignment is entangled with efforts to restore the former King of Greece, and the deeper that Iris and Gwendolyn dig, the more they realize no one is to be trusted.

The ensuing investigation provides ample intrigue and adventure, although what really carries the reader along is the irreverent banter between Iris, Cambridge graduate and wartime spy, and Gwendolyn, society lady and war widow. Drawing on their respective sets of contacts – London gangsters for Iris, minor royalty for Gwendolyn – the pair make A Royal Affair a most entertaining mystery.