Cover

Berkley Prime Crime titles by Rhys Bowen

BERKLEY PRIME CRIME TITLES BY RHYS BOWEN

Royal Spyness Mysteries

HER ROYAL SPYNESS

A ROYAL PAIN

ROYAL FLUSH

ROYAL BLOOD

NAUGHTY IN NICE

THE TWELVE CLUES OF CHRISTMAS

HEIRS AND GRACES

QUEEN OF HEARTS

Constable Evans Mysteries

EVANS ABOVE

EVAN HELP US

EVANLY CHOIRS

EVAN AND ELLE

EVAN CAN WAIT

EVANS TO BETSY

EVAN ONLY KNOWS

EVAN’S GATE

EVAN BLESSED

Anthologies

A ROYAL THREESOME

Specials

MASKED BALL AT BROXLEY MANOR

Title Page

Copyright

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

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A Penguin Random House Company

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

Copyright © 2014 by Janet Quin-Harkin.

The Edgar® name is a registered service mark of the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

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eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-14035-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bowen, Rhys.

Queen of hearts / Rhys Bowen.—First edition.

pages cm—(A royal spyness mystery ; 8)

ISBN 978-0-425-26036-4 (hardback)

1. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 2. Motion picture producers and directors—Crimes against—Fiction. 3. English—United States—Fiction. 4. Aristocracy (Social class)—Fiction. [1. Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)—History—20th century—Fiction.] I. Title.

PR6052.O848Q84 2014

823'.914—dc23

2014005612

FIRST EDITION: August 2014

Cover illustration by John Mattos.

Cover design by Rita Frangie.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Version_1

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my fellow Jungle Red Writers: Hallie Ephron, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Deborah Crombie, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Lucy Burdette, Susan Elia McNeal, with thanks for their support and friendship and for the fun we have with game shows at Bouchercon.

And a special dedication to Barbara Kindell, who lent her name to a Hollywood personality for this book.

Thanks to my wonderful editor, Jackie Cantor; my agents, Meg Ruley and Christina Hogrebe for always being there for me. To my fans for their support, and as always to John for helping polish the manuscript, driving me around and making the best coffee in California.

Chapter 1

KINGSDOWNE PLACE, EYNSFORD, KENT

MONDAY, JULY 9, 1934

Dear Diary: Weather fine but absolutely nothing to do. Dying of boredom.