A Three Dog Problem is certain to be one of my favorite reads this year. I highly recommend it to all mystery/crime readers, with a special encouragement to those who are enjoying the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osmand. The police think Cynthia's demise is an accident, but Her Majesty isn't so sure, especially when she learns Cynthia was a spiteful shrew who'd been receiving menacing notes.

A Three Dog Problem by S.J. Bennett | Goodreads A Three Dog Problem by S.J. Bennett | Goodreads

Once again the Queen directs procedures from afar without letting on her involvement. All the while having to disguise from her various Secretaries what is happening. The prodding from behind the scenes, a word dropped here, a participle left hanging there. I began to find some of it quite annoying. All to placate the Queen’s Men, who occasionally needed to be jollied along, to have their egos soothed, even as their unfailing efforts to protect the Queen seemed to sometimes devolve into obstruction by default, to the point of rendering a situation unworkable. Miss Marple, Jessica Fletcher, Mrs Bradley, Nancy Drew and Queen Elizabeth II. While this formidable bunch of women might not commonly be grouped together, they are all united by one particular attribute: they’re all exceptionally talented and prolific amateur sleuths. Yet, although the myriad cases solved by the first four are well known to crime fiction fans, the investigative exploits of the Queen largely passed unnoticed before SJ Bennett decided to chronicle them in the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series, which began with The Windsor Knot. I listened to the audiobook narrated, once again, by Jane Copland and her familiar British accent added to my listening experience. SJ Bennett was born in Yorkshire, England in 1966, and lives in London. An army child, she grew up travelling around the world. Her first novel was published when she was 42, after a varied career and lots of procrastination. She is the award-winning author of several books for children and teaches and podcasts about writing.It took me a few chapters to get to grips with the fact that the main character was the present queen, but when I did I was hooked (I could even hear her voice in my head narrating the story!). A staff member has been found dead beside the palace swimming pool. A favorite painting that hung outside QEII's bedroom door is missing. And now anonymous and threatening letters are mysteriously being distributed in the palace. The Queen with the help of her Assistant Private Secretary Rozie Oshodi investigates the mystery behind the painting's disappearance which leads to the discovery of the Breakages Business. Threatening letters start arriving anonymously targeting the Palace staff. With the death of the housekeeper, the issue escalates and the Queen once again sets out to find the murderer. Along the way, there are some tragic accidents and poison-pen letters keep turning up. Are the two things related? Are these more than accidents? What secrets has Rozie been stirring up? Things are quite tense in the household staff as a refurbishment campaign is coming up. All the Queen's Men" by S.J. Bennett is the second book in the series 'Her Majesty the Queen Investigates'!

A Three Dog Problem By SJ Bennett | Used | 9781838774820 A Three Dog Problem By SJ Bennett | Used | 9781838774820

There’s much to hang onto in this cozy mystery with a twist of regalit, on the who dunnit level. The intricacies of Palace life, the Queen and her relationship with her dogs, particularly when pondering a situation is a Three Dog problem. I enjoyed the throwaway a lines about real people (Camilla’s charitable work with abused women and her being hysterical in a good way!) There's also a lovely tongue-in-cheek observation that runs through the whole thing that, whether you're one of the richest women in the world or not, eventually as an older woman you become somewhat invisible and underestimated - but you can actually turn this to your advantage in lots of ways. But. What if Her Majesty did? As Bennett has written, “If the Queen wanted to, she would make a great detective, with access to any expert she wants and a deep understanding of her world of politics and palaces,” where, of course, all the real crimes take place. Queen Elizabeth's courtiers think she needs to be shielded from the real world, but Her Majesty shows her mettle again and again. I look forward to reading the further adventures of Rozie and the Queen. PRAISE FOR THE 'HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN INVESTIGATES' MYSTERY SERIES: A witty whodunit starring our very own HM The Queen as an amateur sleuth - GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

As Her Majesty looks for answers, her trusted assistant, Rozie, is on the trail of a treasured painting that once hung outside the Queen's bedroom. But when Rozie receives a threatening anonymous letter, Elizabeth knows dark forces are at work - and far too close to home. Written before the second world war, this Poirot novel is full of tightly wound characters hiding seething emotions. The plot contains masterful misdirection about place and time, but its success was also due in part to its depiction of summer sun, silk pyjamas, blue skies and sandy beaches. By the time it came out in 1941, the peacetime Devon coast where it’s set had become a fantasy world. The victim is obvious from the start, as so often in Christie’s novels, but by whose hand will she die, and why? And what about those silk pyjamas? Its 2016, a women is found dead in the Palace swimming pool, other women are being left threatening sexual notes. What is going on? The Queen is missing a personal painting, “Britannia. [It] used to hang outside [her] bedroom.” As Philip puts it, “What, the ghastly little one by the Australian who couldn’t do boats? That.” The Queen asks Rozie to investigate. It seems for some reason the Queen is fond of that small work. In this, the second book in the series, A Three Dog Problem, Her Majesty investigates the disappearance of a painting of the Royal Yacht Britannia which was gifted to her some decades earlier by Australian artist Vernon Hooker. And, soon after the paintings disappearance has been discovered, the body of a staff member is found beside the Palace swimming pool. And so begins this delightfully charming double plotted mystery. The Queen tasks her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, with finding out how the painting made its way out of the royal collection and into the hands of the Admiralty, where it now hangs on display in a Royal Navy exhibition in Portsmouth.