This is the first in a mystery series which features the Queen, at Windsor Castle. Although the world may not have realised her, Her Majesty has long been investigating crime, along with her most recent assistant – in this case, Rozie. If you overlook the unlikelihood of this, and the fact the author has invented a long history of Royal detecting (personally, I think it would have been more realistic had this particular crime been treated as a unique event and then the author could have had the Queen look back, but she has, obviously, created a whole history of possible sequels by this suggestion).

This book is set around a ‘Dine and Sleep,’ at Windsor Castle. The next morning, a young Russian is found dead, in compromising circumstances. Soon, however, what looked like a suicide, turns out to be murder, and those working at the Castle are under some suspicion, with Putin’s shadow looming over the Queen’s own home. Of course, Her Majesty, whose experience is far superior to that of the men, who look at her as a rather out of touch old lady, decides to investigate herself and ropes Rozie in for the all the interviews and questioning she needs to undertake. Having the Queen turn up, clutching her handbag, might be a little difficult to hide and so it is Rozie that carries out most of the actual investigating; although the Queen does some questioning herself.

As you might expect, this is very much a romantic portrait of the monarchy. The Queen dazzles, she is warm, wise, all knowing and all loving. However, there is also a lot of humour; especially in the portrait of Prince Phillip. For example, heading off to Scotland, he breezily asks, “Need anything? Fudge? Nicola Sturgeon’s head on a platter?’ Also, although you might feel this is a cozy portrait of the Royals, there is enough modern life intruding – sex games, cocaine use, Russian threats – to make this feel more than a romantic portrait of the Queen in a bubble. Overall, an enjoyable first book in what promises to be an entertaining series, with a lot of scope in the Queen’s long life. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

A very witty and affectionate portrayal of the Queen in this entertaining "detective" novel. Who knew that the Queen has been solving mysteries since the Coronation? Only a very select band of her intimate courtiers who appear to do a lot of the leg work allowing the Queen to exercise her brain to identify the villain; because of her position she cannot discuss matters directly with the police/secret services but she can drop hints and use her trusted confidants to relay information to the relevant authorities.

It is of course totally far-fetched but the author writes with such conviction and authority that it makes "one" think that it could be true!

I'm looking forward to the next instalment and thank NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A Royal Double Life....
The first in a new series - ‘Her Majesty The Queen Investigates’. We find that the Queen has, in fact, been living a Royal double life. In her spare hours she has turned to amateur investigations. When a body is discovered at Windsor Castle, following a dinner party, the Queen turns to her investigative prowess to solve the crime. A fun, escapist read with a likeable protagonist and a colourful cast of supporting characters not to mention a huge dose of humour. Extremely entertaining.

The queen has caught a terrible case of the Jessica Fletchers and apparently it’s been going on for years! But being the queen she can’t very well go about investigating stuff willy nilly she’s far too busy running the country, she needs a stout pair of legs to do it for her - enter a series of over qualified girl fridays. The latest one is Rozzie and she’s set to find out what happened to the handsome Russian suspiciously and sloppily hanged in his room at Windsor Castle.
The queen takes a much bigger role in this book than I thought she would. I thought she would be in Charlie in Charlie’s Angels winding Rozzie up and letting her go but we spend quite a bit of time with the queen as she reflects on her life at Windsor’s castle and the day to day functioning of the monarchy. This is interesting of itself but Bennet has created a pretty kick arse character in Rozzie and then barely uses her. She becomes a sounding board, someone put there to listen rather than be proactive in investigating the crime. I want more of Rozzie please!

I wasn't too sure what to expect from "The Windsor Knot" by S.J. Bennett, I knew it involved the Queen investigating a murder ,which is an amusing idea that could have could have been truly dire in thew wrong hands so I approached it more out of curiosity than anticipation. I shouldn't have worried,it's actually very good. What could have a ridiculous premise is neatly handled by Ms Bennett and the Queen as an aristocratic Miss Marple is believable and respectfully handled.

While the Queen is very much a Marple character the book is no slow Agatha Christie clone , there's sex,violence and political shenanigans and a tale that could have been farcical is deftly handled and engrossing.

As the country prepares to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday there's a "Dine and Sleep" event held at Windsor Castle. A young man is murdered, despite massive security,and the Queen,ably aided and abetted by her Assistant Private Secretary Rozie Oshodi and a few close ,trusted ,friends investigate when it seems the Police and Security are on the wrong track.

Ms Bennett must have had great fun writing this, the Archbishop of Canterbury ,David Attenborough, Barack and Michelle Obama as well as other members of the Royal Family appear as cameos. It could have been awful,it could have been sheer farce but it's neither, it's a great read with nice turn of wry humour.

Apparently this is the first book in a series, I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Thanks to SJ Bennett, Zaffre, Bonnier Books UK and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

What a fun book! Fully grounded in reality but a complete flight of fantasy at the same time. Fiction involving the Queen is not entirely new but this book more than stands up to the fun of Sue Townsend's The Queen and I as well as Alan Bennett's Uncommon Reader.

The Queen as a super sleuth is wonderful, I hope there's more to come.

I loved this book!! I had reservations at first thinking it'd be spoofy a bit like that animated film queen's corgi, but the Queen came across as a realistic loveable character, and the investigation was gripping and logical; I didn't see the end coming until the last few chapters. My only gripe with it was the fact it was set in 2016 so you constantly had to be thinking back to what the political scene was then and who was with whom in the royal family etc. I would definitely read something else by this author, and hope this is just 1 of a series as I enjoyed it so much