Gently humorous, super characterisation of the Queen but the mystery is hard to follow.

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The Windsor Knot is the first novel in S.J. Bennett’s series to feature Queen Elizabeth II in an investigative capacity, albeit on the down-low. It’s certainly an original set-up and for the most part I found it a witty and unexpectedly charming novel with the voice of the Queen captured impressively well and the author obviously having done a decent bit of research into life within the royal household. However the Queen and her humorous interactions with Prince Philip quickly prove to be the highlight of a novel in which I found the mystery itself hard to follow.

Spring 2016 and Charles has hijacked the latest one of the Queen’s regular ‘Dine and Sleep’ events at Windsor Castle and invited a Russian contingent in order to curry favour for one of his ‘pet projects’. The next morning the body of Maxsim Brodsky, the young Russian pianist brought along by a guest to provide the entertainment, is discovered dead in a rather comprising position. The Queen’s long-serving Private Secretary, Sir Simon Holcroft, is determined to protect her from the unsavoury details but when pressed he mentions that MI5 are thinking that Putin could be behind it, with a sleeper spy having been planted in the ranks of the household staff. The Queen decides to look into matters herself and unbeknownst to Sir Simon it’s not the first mystery she’s been involved with and discretely steered in the right direction. The Queen’s Assistant Private Secretary of six months, Rozie Oshodi, is about to discover another requirement of her role as she soon finds herself doing the legwork. Brought up in a London council house. a former army Captain and with a spell in the City behind her, thirty-year-old Rozie is unfazed by anything.

The Queen sends Rozie off to interview people and find out things but doesn’t really elaborate on her reasons why, which I found weren’t always obvious and this made the mystery hard work to follow. Furthermore there are a numbers of characters referenced who we never meet or are simply name-checked making it quite hard to remember who they are, let alone how they might be involved in what becomes a rather convoluted affair. Ultimately I found it a bit of a slog to push through to the finish and it was the endearing portrayal of the Queen (“the Boss” to her staff) that kept me reading. Hopefully in the follow-up novel the mystery element will be as compelling as the exchanges between the Queen and Prince Philip are and the Queen might actually let Rozie (and readers) in on her line of thinking! Overall I didn’t find the book gripping and with the lack of urgency and negligible suspense it has the feel of a lightweight novelty read.