Ten years on from his first meeting with Devyani Rana, Crown Prince Dipendra was given an ultimatum by his parents - his royal position or marriage to his lover. Murder Most Royal is Her Majesty the Queen's third attempt at solving a mystery, and I think, the weakest one yet in the series. I'm a big fan of S.J. Bennett's Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series - I loved the first two books and was keen to get my hands on her latest. But something about Murder Most Royal had it missing the highs of its predecessors. There were a few defining moments for sure - the Duke, for example, was at his characteristic best in #3, and on par with previous appearances. I wondered how Bennett would handle this series in light of the Queen’s death last September. She has set the book in 2016, is the answer. And there will be at least one more book in the series, already announced. Just like in the other books I loved the banter between the Queen and other family members. There’s a particularly amusing conversation between Princess Anne and Prince Charles, that made me smile!

That said however, I didn’t think it was as good as the first book which had the element of originality. This was more of the same but with an inordinate amount of characters so that at times I found it difficult to work out who everyone was.

I like this series’ plotting and the feeling it gives of an inside look at the royal family. Bennett seems to know her stuff, but she doesn’t engage in anything that feels gossipy. None of today’s unpleasantness creeps into the story, unless you count some pointed criticisms of the British press expressed by Prince Philip and the Queen. Princess Ketaki claims that the crown prince was frustrated at the thought of fulfilling the role of a modern monarch and was reluctant to relinquish the feudal role of absolute king. Murder Most Royal is the third book in SJ Bennett's "Her Majesty The Queen Investigates" series. Before reviewing the book 2 things. Yes it features the late Queen Elizabeth the Second in a fictional role and no it's no way disrespectful and I'm sure with her known wry sense of humour our late Monarch would enjoy these books and find the whole thing quite amusing. Christmas at Sandringham was all about family. The Queen went there as a little girl and loved it as much as her parents did. When her grandfather died, the house and the estate naturally passed to her Uncle David, who briefly became King Edward VIII. When he abdicated, the Crown and all its lands passed to the Queens’s father, Bertie, who became King George VI … But not Sandringham. That was a personal residence, not part of the Crown, so Bertie had to use his inheritance to buy it from his brother. He then surrounded himself with uncles, aunts and cousins at Christmas time, as the Queen continued to do.

And now the series is about to become a trilogy. MURDER MOST ROYAL will be published by Bonnier in the UK on 10 November. The Queen’s investigations continue. With the Christmas break coming to an end, the Queen and her trusted assistant Rozie must race to discover how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Or the next victim may be found even closer to home. About This Edition ISBN:He looked exactly like the Terminator, absolutely expressionless and very focused, and that look still haunts me. History Makers: Female Writers Dominate the 2023 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award Shortlist With the Christmas break coming to an end, the Queen and her trusted assistant Rozie must race to discover how the pieces of the puzzle fit together... On 1 June 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra went on the shooting spree in the royal palace, killing his parents, sister, younger brother and five other royals. Crown Prince Dipendra was found with a single bullet wound through the head. En cuanto al misterio, me ha parecido bastante complejo y bien construido, bastante difícil de averiguar, pero muy entretenido, aunque quizás le sobren algunos callejones sin salido/misterios secundarios y paralelos. O a mí por lo menos me habría bastado con menos. No obstante, ni se me ha hecho largo ni nada por el estilo. Y a pesar de hablar sobre cadáveres y miembros apuntados, el hecho es que es una historia que me hace sentir en paz mientras la leo.

December 2016 - A severed hand is found washed up on a beach next to the Queen's estate at Sandringham. With a police investigation underway, the search for the rest of Ed's body begins, and the police now probe into Ed's life, movements, and family. However, they struggle to make any solid leads. Then, another man is discovered dead, and a local woman is almost killed in a hit and run. The Queen feels compelled to become involved in what turns out to be her most challenging investigation yet and puts her life in real danger. One imagines Christmas at the royal family’s country house at Sandringham Estate bustling with drama, but Bennett’s version raises the stakes... Bennett charmingly portrays relationships between royal family members." — Washington Post However, all holiday festivities were to take a dark turn when Rozie Oshodi informed the Queen that a severed human hand was found washed up in the mudflats at Snettisham Beach. The hand had no identifying marks, other than a signet ring which was still on one of the fingers. When Rozie showed Her Majesty photographs of the hand (which she'd surreptitiously taken from the crime scene), the Queen recognised another identifying mark - Oh how I adore this wonderfully unique series with the Queen acting as an incredibly efficient solver of crimes with the help of Rozie, her assistant private secretary. The third in the series, Murder Most Royal makes a perfect Christmas gift, as it’s set during the festive season while the Queen and her family celebrate at Sandringham Estate. This latest book is published after the Queen’s death, and it feels like a tribute to her, all three books honour her particular qualities and abilities and there is a comforting warmth throughout. Containing the most beautiful balance between fact and fiction S.J. Bennett ensures that you think these incredible antics could in fact be real. While the plot includes murder and dark moments, there is also compassion and a lightness of touch which is beautifully considered. The characteristics of the cast, whether known members of Royalty or fictional, feel authentic. Rozie is an absolute delight, and I adore the fact that she and her predecessors are part of such an exclusive club, there is a touch of the 007 about Rozie, which works perfectly. The descriptions of the christmas celebrations pop with vibrant colour, and a smile often escaped as I read. All three books now sit in our Star Book category. Murder Most Royal ensures this series is one to put to the very top of your reading lists.New Sports Biographies and Autobiographies: Gift a Book for the Sports Fan In Your Life this Christmas As with SJ Bennett's first two books in the series in which Queen Elizabeth II has now been established as a more than capable, below the radar, sleuth, solving intricate mysteries with the aid of her trusted assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, I listened to this one on audio, nine and half hours long, and narrated by the wonderful actor, Samantha Bond. Bond does a warm and stellar job in immersing the listener into the royal household and family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk during the festive season. The Queen and Philip arrive not in the best of health, looking forward to spending Christmas with the family, including the grandchildren and great grandchildren, although William and Kate are not there, choosing to spend it instead with Kate's family. There is banter and fun as the intimate side of a royal family at Christmas, that endeavours to keep these aspects of their lives private, is detailed. This is a very entertaining series with the Queen and a handful of trusted associates solving crimes then,as obviously the Head of State doing a bit of amateur sleuthing would cause a bit of a stir, leaving clues for the police to discover and "solve" the cases for themselves. I was not quite as engrossed as I had been when reading the first book in the series but I did enjoy reading more about Rozie, the Queens assistant who helps her investigate. I also liked the setting of Sandringham which was well described and I found it interesting to read the anecdotes about the royal family celebrating Christmas there.. The programme also reveals how the crown prince became increasingly frustrated at his role within the royal family.

Agatha Christie meets The Crown in MURDER MOST ROYAL, the much-anticipated third book in the 'Her Majesty The Queen Investigates' mystery series by SJ Bennett - for fans of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Agatha Christie and M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin. Close by, on a Norfolk beach, a severed hand in a plastic bag washes up on the beach. The police are seeking to identify the victim, but it is the Queen who identifies the 70 year old victim from the signet ring as a well known member of the aristocracy, Edward St Cyr, who as a boy was a frequent visitor to Sandringham. As the police investigate, hunting for the rest of his body, and looking into his life, movements and family, they struggle to make any headway. When another man is discovered dead and a local woman is almost killed in a hit and run, the Queen feels obliged to become involved in what turns out to be her most twisted and challenging inquiry yet and which brings danger far too close to home. Family history, secrets, deceptions and lies are slowly uncovered with a Queen determined to get to the truth, irrespective of the obstacles in her path.

LoveReading Says

Present-giving at Sandringham takes place on Christmas Eve - in the German tradition that they have observed since Prince Albert’s day. But what do you give a member of the family who has everything? This mystery centres around a local aristocratic family, whom the Queen knew quite well many years ago. In fact the victim used to come and play with Charles when he was boy. So there’s a personal connection that makes things a bit awkward but also a bit easier. I kept changing my mind about who the murderer was because of all the red herrings, and only really discovered who it was when the big reveal came! With the Christmas break coming to an end, the Queen and her trusted assistant Rozie must race to discover how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Or the next victim may be found even closer to home. But when a second man is found dead, and a prominent local woman is nearly killed in a hit-and-run, the mystery takes an even darker turn. When a second man is found dead, and a prominent local woman is nearly killed in a hit-and-run, the mystery takes an even darker turn.