William Morrow, 288 pages, $27.99
Did you love the television series “The Crown”? Under the influence of that series, by the end of this book, I was thinking, “Yeah, this could so happen. Lilibet would be a crackerjack detective. And, ooo, the palaces!”
Who is S. J. Bennett and how does she paint such a credible sounding description of the inner workings of The Palace? (Not that I would know what is credible palace behavior.) Other than an active imagination and having “once interviewed for a job working for the Queen,” it doesn’t look as though she has any secret source. Nevertheless, Bennett has crafted an entertaining novel, high on detail, low on silliness.
Imagine a day in the life of the queen. It is chock-a-block with rituals, advisory meetings, and social gatherings. It’s a good thing Bennett set this in the year 2016 when Elizabeth was on the verge of celebrating her 90th birthday. One could imagine the spry 90-year-old putting in a full day as The Queen and later burrowing in to solve a murder mystery.
Although Elizabeth would rather spend time with corgis and horses, she finds herself saddled with the disruption caused by the murder of a palace guest. He was a young pianist who played Rachmaninoff and danced beautifully at a party afterwards. The guests were enchanted. Except for the one who strangled him and made it look as though he had asphyxiated himself in an auto-erotic misadventure. But the murderer’s set-up was clumsily done, leading to a police investigation. Police start combing through the histories of the other guests and staff, thus upsetting the well-run palace apple cart. The last straw for Elizabeth is when two long-term members of the staff are put on leave while their bona fides are checked. Elizabeth can only imagine their embarrassment.
The victim was Russian, so there’s that whole thing. Was he another Russian murdered on British soil because he had displeased Putin? Will this be a diplomatic kerfuffle?
The queen has only one recourse after she figures out what the murder ISN’T. With the help of her young Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi — who just began her job — she will use discreet means to ferret out the truth. Rozie cannot let her boss, the Private Secretary, know what she and the queen are up to. The plot seems ideal for a great deal of royal silliness, but Bennett deftly sidesteps that literary quagmire. If one ignores the unlikelihood that the Queen could be or would be an investigator, however private, everything hangs together. The queen, being the queen, has a lot of contacts who could help: academics, ex-police, specialists. Never underestimate The Queen!
Although the ending races through a mass of information to let us know whodunnit, I didn’t mind because I loved the leisurely inside look (however fictional) at royal shenanigans. The book wasn’t perfect, but it was the right book at the right time. Here’s my version of the OBE: an MBTB star!
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