An e book bargain-Murder Most Royal

NOTE: a new book in this series will be published soon

Four stars****

This book will absolutely delight cozy mystery fans and royal watchers. What a premise it is to have Queen Elizabeth discreetly investigating murder and mayhem. She may well become many readers favorite amateur sleuth.

In this third in the series, the Queen is in Norfolk for the festive December holidays. However, all is not well. A hand has turned up on the beach. The hand sports a specific signet ring which leads the Queen to name the owner of this body part. No, She is not squeamish. What happened? Who was responsible? Will justice be achieved?

The mystery itself is well done although I confess that, at times, I had a bit of trouble keeping all of the characters distinct in my memory. But, that did not pose any major difficulties and I very much enjoyed this book.

The delight of this novel lies in the insider feel that Bennett gives readers into royal life. The house and grounds of Sandringham feel accurately described as do events such as Boxing Day shoots and the exchange of gag gifts.

At Sandringham with the Queen are Anne, Charles, Beatrice, Phillip, Harry and others. No William however as he and Kate are at the Middletons. Every one is made to feel very real with personalities that reflect the sense that readers may already have of them.

As was true in the earlier titles in the series, 6 foot tall, Black, Rozie, the Queen’s APS, make her appearance. She is such a fun character.

I highly recommend this one. Readers who have not read the other books in the series will be fine here but many will want to go back to the first two just for the fun of it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this title. All opinions are my own.

From the Publisher