I liked the first look as I really am a sucker for alternative histories and new slants on old characters. However the book did not really live up to expectations. The author is a self-confessed royal watcher and clearly a big admirer of the Queen. I am neither and it seems that the whole book was just to reinforce how marvellous the Queen was to her staff. The mystery was fairly humdrum and depended on an assumption of very, very poor security around the Queen! From the opening pages I think I’d been expecting something a little more inventive -and with a little more edge. I did get annoyed on her behalf when the pompous man from MI5 was talking-would’ve liked him to get his comeuppance. It had its moments. I liked some of her Maj’s observationIs observations about her eldest.. clearly an author not wishing to offend. Royal watchers will love it - and the predicted series.