22nd February 2024

For obvious reasons to contemporary readers, book four of Her Majesty The Queen Investigates is a prequel, taking us back to 1957 and a younger monarch, setting out to solve one of her early cases.

This allows for some great new characters to be thrown into the mix, and Bennett paints well the difficult balance of social class between them in a variety of contexts.

The author has clearly done a lot of research and pours a great deal of love into these pages, taking little things that are maybe known about the real characters these are based on and expanding them into endearing parts of the story.

I find these incredibly relaxing and joyful cosy crime stories, full of amusement, despite the occasional serious parts of the storyline.

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27th May 2023

The third Her Majesty The Queen Investigates novel takes us to overwinter at Sandringham, where another mystery awaits.

It’s strangely bittersweet, reading this in the week of the coronation. It’s another delightful and incredibly respectfully put together tale, and very much a price of fun to imagine that this is one of the late Queen’s activities.

I didn’t feel quite so hooked as with the first two novels, but then I also had a theory in my head which was not proved correct by the eventual reveal.

I’m very happy though to continue reading these cosy novels, and am intrigued to see how they will play out going back in time to earlier in the Queen’s life.

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5th April 2022

The Queen and her staff return for a second investigation. This time we find them at Buckingham Palace, where not only has a body been found in the pool, but one of the Queen’s favourite paintings has been lost.

Although I’ve described the plot tongue in cheek, it’s actually a really solid mystery story, with decent characters who properly seem invested in the events and have real human emotional responses to what’s happening around them.

I really enjoy the balance of mystery, humour, and character that Bennett brings to these novels - they make for a nice piece of escapism from more serious reading.

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19th December 2020

I found this book recommended online for people who has enjoyed Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, and was sufficiently amused by the concept of the nonagenarian Queen as a secret mystery-solver that I snapped it up.

And it is just fun. We’re aligned for much of the story with the new Assistant Private Secretary - a person with a normal background who somewhat unexpectedly finds herself working for The Boss - and that helps to reveal the world of Her Majesty and her subtle frustrations and attempts to help along.

There are lots of little facts and elements that feel like the author has definitely done the homework on the royals, and the plot is well constructed and develops in the classic mystery novel style.

I don’t think it’s in quite the same league as Richard Osman’s novel, but that doesn’t matter as I found it a delightful bit of escapism and will certainly pick up the sequel when it’s published next year.

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