The Queen Who Came in from the Cold

S.J. Bennett

WHEN the Queen becomes embroiled in a claim that a murder has been witnessed from the window of the royal train, she little knows that her covert enquiries will take her into the heart of some Cold War skulduggery.

In a delightful series that has caught the imagination – and won the hearts – of an army of readers, Yorkshire-born author S.J. Bennett (pictured below) sweeps us away to the opulence of a state visit to Venice and into another right royal mystery involving espionage, subterfuge and murder most foul.

The aim of this cosy, quirky The Queen Investigates series was to celebrate our late monarch’s lifetime of dedication to public service, her role in all our lives, and her impact on the world at large, and her death in 2022 has added an extra layer of poignancy to the much-loved cosy crime series. In this charming fifth book, Bennett winds back the clock to the Sixties and the earlier days of Queen Elizabeth’s long reign, taking us behind the walls of palaces, inside the royal train and on board the royal yacht, to meet up again with an unexpected super-sleuthing superstar sovereign who has begun a royal lifetime of solving murder mysteries in between her more regular and recognised duties.

It's 1961 and the Queen is planning her state visit to Italy aboard the royal yacht Britannia and, not least, an upcoming and much-anticipated visit by the new American president, John F. Kennedy. But before she goes, one of Princess Margaret’s temporary ladies in waiting (not the most reliable of witnesses) claims to have seen a brutal murder from the royal train.

What the Queen wants to know is did it really happen, and could the victim be a missing friend of Princess Margaret’s new husband, Tony Armstrong Jones? As the Queen and Joan McGraw, her assistant private secretary and an ex-Bletchley Park code breaker, get to work on their second joint investigation, they are soon on the perilous trail of a plot involving spies, defections… and even the space race.

With a supporting cast of real and fictional players – including some wonderful cameo appearances by Prince Philip, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret – and a story that blends a fascinating exploration of the royals’ public and private lives with an intriguing mystery, this is an exhilarating romp that brings us the Queen, her family and her courtiers as we have never before seen them.

But it is the incomparable Queen Elizabeth who is undoubtedly the shining star of Bennett’s new royal blue mystery, picking up perfectly her nuances and familiar characteristics, and painting a dazzling, humorous and totally convincing portrait of the canny, compassionate and dedicated monarch without losing sight of her dignity and integrity.

With its richly detailed and authentic portrayal of court life, a fast-paced mystery littered with clues, red herrings, and revealing insights into the real-life events of the earlier years of the Queen’s reign, this is a wonderfully entertaining series with a pleasing – and distinctly British – flavour.
(Zaffre, hardback, £16.99)