The Windsor knot

Title:

The Windsor knot

Author:

Bennett, S. J. (Sophia J.), author.

Personal Author:

Bennett, S. J. (Sophia J.), author.

ISBN:

9780063050006

9780063050013

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

274 pages ; 24 cm

Abstract:

"The first book in a highly original and clever new crime series featuring Queen Elizabeth II as an amateur detective who solves crimes in secret and behind the scenes, in between her royal duties"-- Provided by publisher.

Spring, 2016. Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. When a guest is found dead in one of the Castle bedrooms, the scene suggests the young Russian pianist strangled himself, but a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play was involved. Unhappy at the handling of the case and concerned for her staff's morale, the monarch-- with help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian and recent officer in the Royal Horse Artillery-- begins making inquiries to bring a murderer to justice. -- adapted from jacket

Personal Subject:

Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain, 1926-2022-Fiction.

Corporate Subject:

Windsor Castle -- Fiction.

Subject Term:

Nigerians -- Great Britain -- Fiction.

Russians -- Great Britain -- Fiction.

Genre:

Biographical fiction.

Mystery fiction.

Fiction.

Detective and mystery fiction.

Summary:

"The first book in a highly original and clever new crime series featuring Queen Elizabeth II as an amateur detective who solves crimes in secret and behind the scenes, in between her royal duties"--

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Belmont	Book	FICTION BENNETT	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Ginter Park	Book	FICTION BENNETT	Searching... Unknown
Searching... West End	Book	FICTION BENNETT	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"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

"[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, author of One by One

The bestselling first book in a highly original and delightfully clever crime series in which Queen Elizabeth II secretly solves crimes while carrying out her royal duties.

It is the early spring of 2016 and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted by the shocking and untimely death of a guest in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene leads some to think the young Russian pianist strangled himself, yet a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play. When they begin to question the Household's most loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they're looking in the wrong place.

For the Queen has been living an extraordinary double life ever since her teenage years as "Lilibet." Away from the public eye and unbeknownst to her closest friends and advisers, she has the most brilliant skill for solving crimes. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian officer recently appointed to the Royal Horse Artillery, the Queen discreetly begins making inquiries. As she carries out her royal duties with her usual aplomb, no one in the Royal Household, the government, or the public knows that the resolute Elizabeth won't hesitate to use her keen eye, quick mind, and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice.

SJ Bennett captures Queen Elizabeth's voice with skill, nuance, wit, and genuine charm in this imaginative and engaging mystery that portrays Her Majesty as she's rarely seen: kind yet worldly, decisive, shrewd, and, most important, a superb judge of character.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

Firmly cushioned hell breaks loose when one of the guests at a Windsor Castle "dine and sleep" fails to survive the night in Bennett's amusingly decorous debut. Being Queen Elizabeth II is no bed of roses. The queen has to maintain a stiff upper lip during the most taxing moments, most of them evidently among her counselors. Windsor Castle, her favorite among her residences, is directly in the flight path of noisy commercial airliners. And now Maksim Brodsky, the pianist brought to her latest soiree by Russian oligarch Yuri Peyrovski and Masha Peyrovskaya, his beautiful wife, has died overnight. The potential scandal is compounded because shortly before the assembled company retired, the devilishly handsome Brodsky claimed dances with both distinguished architect Meredith Gostelow and the queen, and the manner of his demise strongly suggests autoerotic asphyxiation. Her Majesty is not amused. Nor does she believe the condescending assurance of Gavin Humphreys, the new head of MI5, that Brodsky's death, which he's certain is the latest in a series of humiliating assassinations of anti-Putin activists, has been perpetrated by a mole long lodged in the Windsor staff. But if Brodsky really was murdered, as a closer look at the forensics indicates, and the killer wasn't one of the queen's intimates, who was it? Since Elizabeth is in no position to do her own legwork, she enlists Rozie Oshodi, her Nigerian rookie assistant private secretary, to make discreet inquiries. But the crucial deductions are those of the 90-year-old monarch Rozie aptly calls "the Boss." The suspects are few and the mystery disappointing, but the queen makes a wonderfully self-effacing sleuth. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.