Red as Royal Blood

By Author / Illustrator

Elizabeth Hart

Genre

Suspense & Thrillers

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Ink Road

ISBN

9781785308802

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

18-11-2025

Synopsis

My Lady Jane meets Knives Out in this murder mystery thriller, perfect for fans The King is Dead and One of Us is Lying. Ruby has never found a puzzle she couldn't solve.

Ruby has never found a puzzle she couldn't solve. Even though she's destined to spend the rest of her life as a servant to the royal family, her mind itches for a true challenge. But no puzzle could prepare her for the king's decision to name Ruby as the next heir to the throne just before his death.

Thrown into the viper's nest of court, Ruby is forced to contend with a kingdom in crisis, the dead king's angry wife, and the three entitled and annoyingly handsome princes. Then, as if being newly crowned queen wasn't enough, she discovers a note left by the king that claims he was murdered . . . and that she might be next.

Unsure of who she can trust, Ruby makes uneasy alliances with each of the princes as she tries to solve the king's murder. But with the clock winding down, she will face her most difficult challenge yet: finding the truth before the killer comes for her. Courtly intrigue, succession drama, and romance combine in this unputdownable murder mystery!

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Reviews

Rachel

No one is more surprised than Ruby herself when she discovers that the late king has made her heir to his throne, especially as she works as a maid in the royal palace. In an instant, Ruby finds herself mired in a viper's nest of suspicion, intrigue and mystery where everyone mistrusts each other and those who Ruby thought were her friends perhaps aren't. Add into this the charms of two handsome Princes and we have fast-paced read that is enormous fun.

I took a while to accept the premise of Red as Royal Blood, but once I was able to put that aside I was hooked into finding out what happened. I liked how Ruby was shown to be more complex a character than I first thought. There is plenty of lust for the Princes, which is well balanced with her enjoyment of thinking strategically when playing chess.

There are also plenty of twists and turns through the novel as people's true characters are revealed and, while I found the ending slightly disappointing, Red as Royal Blood will appeal to readers who are starting to discover the world of 'romantasy' fiction.

336 pages / Reviewed by Rachel Bolton