[A] pitch-perfect murder mystery… If The Crown were crossed with Miss Marple…, the result would probably be something like this charming whodunnit.” — Ruth Ware on The Windsor Knot
“Sheer entertainment… Bennett infuses wit and an arch sensibility into her prose… This is not mere froth, it is pure confection.” — New York Times Book Review on The Windsor Knot
“[An] enjoyable, good-natured sequel to 2020’s The Windsor Knot… Highlights include the breakfast table talk between the queen and Prince Philip and, of course, references to the monarch’s beloved corgis. Bennett respectfully portrays the queen while providing edifying details of palace life. Dog lovers and Anglophiles will rejoice.” — Publishers Weekly on All the Queen's Men
“The Queen shows a little Sherlock Holmes and a dash of George Smiley. She also charms the reader in all her scenes.” — Toronto Star on The Windsor Knot
“Her Majesty, … unshockable and mystery-savvy, … uses her long but subtle reach, powers of observation, and decades (and decades!) of sizing up people to solve several crimes… Mystery readers—and royalists, of course—will enjoy their audience with QEII.” — Booklist on The Windsor Knot
"Hilarious, affectionate, and so well observed... I loved it." — Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat on The Windsor Knot
“[An] amusingly decorous debut…the queen makes a wonderfully self-effacing sleuth.” — Kirkus Reviews on The Windsor Knot
“Bennett portrays the perceptive, resourceful Queen—her thought processes, intuitions and actions—with great wit and affection… A fast-moving, spirited and suspenseful plot. Readers will be enchanted by Bennett's inventive portrayal of a deeply engaging icon.” — Shelf Awareness on The Windsor Knot
“SJ Bennett brilliantly sets up the Queen as detective… Our super-sleuth Queen unites sharp intuition and first-class memory with a lifetime of observation to outwit the police and MI5. She is Miss Marple with a crown.” — Daily Mirror (UK) on The Windsor Knot
“The quirkiest, funniest and most-needed crime novel of the year—do not miss.” — The Sun (UK)
"S.J. Bennett’s crime-fiction novel presents an affectionate and entertaining depiction of The Queen as an amateur private investigator. Taking place in the autumn of 2016, The Queen must come to grips not only with the shifting context of the time, but also how it connects to a shocking death of a staffer within the Palace. The novel hones in on The Queen’s eye to see the real story behind events, and how some crimes need the royal touch to find their solution." — Vogue (Australia) on All the Queen's Men
★ 08/01/2023
Residing at Sandringham House for the Christmas season, the Queen of England is pulled into another case when a disembodied hand washes up on the Norfolk coast near her estate. Aided once more by her redoubtable assistant private secretary Rozie Oshodi, she calmly but relentlessly picks the case apart in Bennett's third "Her Majesty the Queen Investigates" series (following All the Queen's Men). While the mystery is deftly plotted, its delights rest in the ways Bennett evokes character. Elizabeth has a sharply observant mind and an unflappable, stalwart demeanor, which is showcased wonderfully through interior and direct dialogue, as well as multiple interactions with a range of characters, from Philip to a stable hand, and, of course, with Rozie, who is new enough to be aware of royal life but is also very much her own self. Additional charms come through the pacing, which is at once brisk and sedate, as it unspools both through Elizabeth's thoughts and the case's developments on the ground. The settings are superb too, as is the pitch-perfect positioning of the novel as just on the other side of cozy. VERDICT Bennett's newest is marvelous, as is her crackerjack royal detective.—Neal Wyatt
