Guest Review: The Windsor Knot by S J Bennett

The first book in a highly original and delightfully clever crime series in which Queen Elizabeth II secretly solves crimes while carrying out her royal duties.

On a perfect Spring morning at Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II will enjoy a cup of tea, carry out all her royal duties . . . and solve a murder.

The morning after a dinner party at Windsor Castle, eighty-nine-year-old Queen Elizabeth is shocked to discover that one of her guests has been found murdered in his room, with a rope around his neck. When the police begin to suspect her loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they are looking in the wrong place. For the Queen has been living an extraordinary double life ever since her coronation. Away from the public eye, she has a brilliant knack for solving crimes.

With her household's happiness on the line, her secret must not get out. Can the Queen and her trusted secretary Rozie catch the killer, without getting caught themselves?

Miss Marple meets The Crown in The Windsor Knot, the first book in the 'Her Majesty The Queen Investigates' mystery series by SJ Bennett.

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If you look beyond the implausibility of Queen Elizabeth II as a sleuth (and the fact that the idea has been used before), you will find here a decent, attention-holding whodunnit, with satisfactory red herrings and plot twists. The main actors are the Queen and her Assistant Private Secretary Rozie; Rozie does the legwork (and occasionally gets herself into trouble) while the Queen stays resolutely in the background, dropping a pointer here and there, and actually providing the solution to the mystery without seeming to be involved at all. 

 Those who are interested in the minutiae of life in the Royal household will be entertained by the references scattered throughout the book; those of us who are not will find them not so intrusive as to take from the enjoyment of the story. 

 The book is presented as the first of a series. Would I read the next one? Yes – definitely.