A less funny re-run of book one with too much going on to convincingly solve any of it.
A Three Dog Problem is the second novel to feature Queen Elizabeth II in an covert investigative capacity and picks up in the wake of the divisive Brexit referendum with a new Prime Minister in Theresa May and a contentious US election on the horizon. In common with the first book it is the Queen’s Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, who goes out and asks questions and discreetly reports back. Whilst I didn’t think the first book was hugely compelling I found it gently entertaining and felt Bennett did an excellent job with her characterisation of the Queen. However with the novelty factor of the first book absent and far fewer moments of wit and humour this second book struggled to hold my attention. This wasn’t helped by the fact that there are several threads to the mystery (a missing painting, a suspected murder, poison pen letters targeted at multiple people and the long-standing problem of Palace items being spirited away on the sly), making it difficult to do justice to any one of them.
The Queen is disconcerted to spot one of her favourite paintings - and one that belongs to her - at an exhibition of maritime art in Portsmouth. The painting, which Phillip describes as “ghastly”, is of the retired Britannia yacht and once hung outside her bedroom. Positive it is the original she enlists Rozie to discover when it left her collection and why it has never been returned. This turns out to be anything but the simple task that it sounds but when the dead body of an unpopular elderly housekeeper is found beside the Palace swimming pool it slips down the priority list. With the jury out on whether the death of the housekeeper was an unfortunate accident or cold-blooded murder, rumours amongst the royal household staff go into overdrive. When the Queen asks Rozie about the victim and discovers that she was the target of a sustained campaign of poison pen letters it brings several concerning revelations to light, with the Queen discovering that there is a lot more going on below stairs than she could ever have imagined. Needless to say it gets extremely convoluted and I was no more invested in this string of crimes than those in the first book.
Whilst I enjoyed meeting Rozie Oshodi again and this second book is well-paced and easily readable, I found it all a bit mundane from start to finish. There are far fewer highlights (topical jokes, humorous exchanges between the Queen and Prince Phillip) and as with most cosy crime, the mystery is really only an opportunity to showcase the cast and given one of the two main protagonists is royalty and the setting it Buckingham Palace, it limits the extent of plausible embellishment. Once again there is a large secondary cast of very dispensable and forgettable characters who make fleeting appearances and don’t make much of an impression. Readers who enjoyed the first book will no doubt enjoy this second book too, but sadly my journey with the Queen and Rozie stops here.
The Queen is disconcerted to spot one of her favourite paintings - and one that belongs to her - at an exhibition of maritime art in Portsmouth. The painting, which Phillip describes as “ghastly”, is of the retired Britannia yacht and once hung outside her bedroom. Positive it is the original she enlists Rozie to discover when it left her collection and why it has never been returned. This turns out to be anything but the simple task that it sounds but when the dead body of an unpopular elderly housekeeper is found beside the Palace swimming pool it slips down the priority list. With the jury out on whether the death of the housekeeper was an unfortunate accident or cold-blooded murder, rumours amongst the royal household staff go into overdrive. When the Queen asks Rozie about the victim and discovers that she was the target of a sustained campaign of poison pen letters it brings several concerning revelations to light, with the Queen discovering that there is a lot more going on below stairs than she could ever have imagined. Needless to say it gets extremely convoluted and I was no more invested in this string of crimes than those in the first book.
Whilst I enjoyed meeting Rozie Oshodi again and this second book is well-paced and easily readable, I found it all a bit mundane from start to finish. There are far fewer highlights (topical jokes, humorous exchanges between the Queen and Prince Phillip) and as with most cosy crime, the mystery is really only an opportunity to showcase the cast and given one of the two main protagonists is royalty and the setting it Buckingham Palace, it limits the extent of plausible embellishment. Once again there is a large secondary cast of very dispensable and forgettable characters who make fleeting appearances and don’t make much of an impression. Readers who enjoyed the first book will no doubt enjoy this second book too, but sadly my journey with the Queen and Rozie stops here.