A Three Dog Problem is the second book in the series by SJ Bennett. It is a funny, enlightening, mystery detective novel, of course starring our beloved Queen Elizabeth II. Her assistant and private secretary is Rozie, an ex-soldier, and everything you can imagine, ‘her regimental specialism had been “find, strike, destroy, suppress”‘.I was surprised and loved the humorous parts in the book, whether fact or fiction, such as Prince Philip’s petname for his wife being Cabbage. Or the idea of the Queen googling herself on her iPad to find out where she was on a particular date, and that she spent some of her time at Balmoral binge-watching Murder She Wrote.
Buckingham Palace, as we know, is not a beautiful glittering “Disney”palace inside but run down and in desperate need of attention. As well as being a tourist attraction it is home for the Royal Family and also work. Something I never thought of, “the rabbit warren of corridors that ceased to make sense two hundred years ago.”
External events such as the fallout from the Brexit referendum and the US Presidential election provide a subtle backdrop to the main storyline. The Queen muses about women who have achieved things or may do so in the future, such as Hilary Clinton, whilst underplaying her own role in world affairs. And there is a moving scene in which the Queen attends the annual Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph.
The focus of the book though, is a clever mystery involving amongst other things an unexplained death, poison pen letters, Renaissance art, and some murky goings-on in the bowels of Buckingham Palace.
I look forward to the third book in the series.