Royal Gambit

O’Malley’s fourth thriller featuring the Checquy Group, “a covert agency within the British government that dealt with, and was partially staffed by, the supernatural” (after 2022’s Blitz), offers an entertaining blend of fantasy and humor. The Group’s oddball missions—like botanist Alix’s investigation into “a pot of malevolent nasturtiums in Cumbria that had been directing bees to swarm people and also steal their credit card details”—are interrupted when Edmund, the Prince of Wales, dies suddenly of unknown causes. Suspicions that Edmund was assassinated make identifying the cause a Checquy priority. Those fears intensify after Odette Leliefeld, an alchemist and Checquy ally, discovers a small pyramid emerging from the prince’s brain during an autopsy, a bizarre symptom also seen eight years earlier in an American college student. Alix and Odette team up to solve the mystery. As always, O’Malley imbues his imagined world with realistic details and finds plentiful humor in the clash of the supernatural and the bureaucratic. (“For all its astounding capabilities, the Checquy was still a government agency, which meant there were never enough funds or staff for a project.”) Series fans will be delighted. (July)