Royal Blood (Royal Blood #1)

Carter (Captive) presents an intriguing murder mystery starring an American teenager shaking up the foundations of an alternate British royal family. King Alexander has two 17-year-old daughters: beautiful, respectable acknowledged heir Maisie, and illegitimate half-American Evangeline “Evan” Bright, the latter a well-kept secret from the public. Evan has never met her royal relatives; upon gaining custody of her six years prior, King Alexander has shuffled her through various boarding schools and summer camps in order to keep her under the radar. Following an incident, she’s expelled from school just before graduation, and the king’s secretary packs her off to London to avoid potential arrest. All Evan wants is to escape Maisie’s and the queen’s patronizing attitudes, and to be with her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in years, but she’s now stuck at Windsor Castle until she turns 18. Further complications arise when the press find out she’s the king’s daughter and after a tabloid owner’s son who slipped Evan drugs during a night out turns up dead—and she’s accused of his murder. Evan’s portrayal as a snarky fish-out- of-water among glamorous European royalty lends a comedic through line to Carter’s jam-packed novel, the first in a trilogy. Major characters read as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary. (Mar.)