In the third installment of the engaging Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series, British author SJ Bennett (The Windsor Knot) whisks readers to rural Norfolk and the royal Sandringham Estate. Here, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, both ill, have arrived to spend the Christmas holidays with assorted family members and staff. When she learns a severed hand has been discovered on the local beach, Elizabeth is determined to let the police handle the matter while she copes with her flu and focuses on the holidays. Then a questionable hit-and-run lands an influential villager in the hospital. The Queen and Rozie, her assistant private secretary, begin an investigation of events. Local aristocratic landowners carefully paint wholesome, uncomplicated versions of their lives for Rozie, but the Queen remembers which family members may have had reason to want a member of their elite circle dead. The police have identified the hand, which belongs to an aristocratic landowner, but cannot locate the body. It will take the combined efforts of Rozie's investigative skills and the Queen's shrewd deductive talents to sift through the tenuous clues and identify the murderer.
Vivid descriptions of Norfolk's wintry landscape provide sharp contrast to the glamorous world inside Sandringham House and the trappings of royal life. The author's affection for the iconic Queen is on full display in multiple scenes that feature Elizabeth's practicality and astute discernment of human character, lifelong passion for country life, deep involvement with family, and undeniable wit. Although part of an ongoing series, this lively, delightful novel can easily be read as a stand-alone title. --Lois Faye Dyer, writer and reviewer