Book Review: The Windsor Knot

Book Review: The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett

Disclaimer: I received an advance reader’s edition through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Some small changes may be present in the final edition.

It is April 2016, and Queen Elizabeth II is in residence at Windsor Castle. Indeed, the castle is extra full, as there was a “dine and sleep” the night before with an important Russian businessman and various other VIPs. There was entertainment too, ballerinas and a talented young Russian expatriate pianist. Unfortunately, sometime during the night the population declined by one.

At first it appears that the young man hung himself in a failed attempt at autoerotic asphyxiation, and the matter is kept hush-hush to avoid scandal, but soon it’s obvious it was murder. The queen knows that she should leave the investigation to the professionals, but when she realizes that they’re on the wrong track entirely, Elizabeth must once again put her keen mind to solving the mystery.

This is the first book in a proposed series in which the queen of Great Britain solves baffling mysteries. This certainly isn’t the first mystery novel I’ve read about a famous person solving crimes, but I’m fairly certain it’s the first one where the public figure in question is still alive as I type! (Just checked, still alive.) Several other famous people are present, with President and Mrs. Obama making a brief appearance.

It’s learned that the pianist was a fierce anti-Putin blogger, and the head of the investigation seizes upon this to suggest that the Russian leader is behind the murder somehow. Elizabeth has met the man, and while she despises him, this just isn’t his style.

She turns to her new assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a former soldier of Nigerian descent, to assist her. Rozie soon learns that she’s only the latest in a line of women who’ve done the legwork to aid the queen in solving mysteries. You might ask why you’ve never heard of this habit of hers, and Rozie does. Naturally, Elizabeth cannot be seen to be doing this sort of thing, so much must be stage managed to make it appear that someone else solved the crime.

The good: Queen Elizabeth II is an extraordinary woman who’s led a long and astounding life. This makes her a fascinating main character, and the details of what’s going on around the castle with her busy schedule fill up the pages well.

The mystery aspect is sound, and follows a competent path. Due to the nature of the story, the last bits have to be done off-page and then reported to the queen, but this was warned about well in advance. I teared up a bit during the epilogue.

The less good: the story swaps viewpoint characters frequently as the queen cannot be everywhere; sometimes this clumsily happens between paragraphs, and at other points unnecessarily. There could be other ways of conveying the information without hopping into a bit character who won’t appear again in the story.

The umm…: Using a real life living person as your fiction’s main character, however respectful you may intend to be, seems iffy to me. The author’s acknowledgements don’t specify how she did her research so it may all be based on public knowledge and media reports.

Overall: It’s an interesting time capsule of a tiny slice of recent history, and an okay mystery story. I think it will go over best with people who are fascinated by the Royals, but don’t know them personally.