Queen Lucia

Queen Lucia is the first book in the Mapp and Lucia series.

Mrs. Lucas, Lucia to her intimates, resides in the village of Riseholme, a pretty Elizabethan village in Worcestershire, where she vigorously guards her status as “Queen” despite occasional attempts from her subjects to overthrow her. Lucia’s dear friend Georgie Pillson both worships Lucia and occasionally works to subvert her power.

The Mapp and Lucia novels, in chronological order, are:

Queen Lucia (1920)
Miss Mapp (1922)
Lucia in London (1927)
Mapp and Lucia (1931)
Lucia’s Progress (1935) (published in the U.S. as Trouble for Lucia (1939)

There are also five other books based on the same characters written by other authors.

Tom Holt wrote two sequels, published by Macmillan and Black Swan, which are written in a style and esprit of the originals. They are:

Lucia in Wartime (1985)
Lucia Triumphant (1986)

Guy Fraser-Sampson has written three additional novels the first published by Troubador, the second and third by Elliott and Thompson Ltd:

Major Benjy (2008)

In the chronology of the novels set in Tilling this sits between Miss Mapp and Mapp and Lucia. The writing is in a more contemporary style than Benson and Holt’s while retaining the typical plot devices of the earlier books. The book contains a number of minor character errors. There is however a delicious cake baking episode which is entirely in the spirit of the original novels.

Lucia on Holiday (2012)
Au Reservoir: A new Mapp and Lucia novel (2014)