All the Queen's Men (Her Majesty the Queen Investigates, 3)

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All the Queen's Men doesn't have the revelations of the origin story in The Windsor Knot (2020) which had the extra charm of revealing the REAL Her Majesty's Secret Service, but I can't begrudge that. Since this book is set in 2016, we can enjoy the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh and the sweet ending of this book.

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I enjoyed the throwaway a lines about real people (Camilla’s charitable work with abused women and her being hysterical in a good way! The victim was a young handsome Russian pianist who the Queen invited to entertain the guests with, after which he danced with some people, including the Queen. Other women have also received vicious missives, including a royal housekeeper named Cynthia Harris and Rozie herself.

I also enjoyed the ‘behind the scenes’ look at life in a royal palace, an increasingly dilapidated one as it turns out in the case of Buckingham Palace. And, if you’re like myself and many other readers I know, you will go down all the rabbit holes of those subjects, some of which I’ve provided links below.

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In this story, we encounter several interesting players from the Royal Collection department, past and present. I have plans to read book 3 when it comes out next year, so why do I feel the way I do with Three Dog Problem? The investigation leads Rozie back in time to a rash of missing items in Palace in the 1980’s dubbed the Breakages Business. And, as the Queen is the main character, there is the overriding issue of how older or “old” people are dismissed in their contributions to or understandings of situations.External events such as the fallout from the Brexit referendum and the US Presidential election provide a subtle backdrop to the main storyline. The last thing the Queen needs is any more problems to worry about, but when an oil painting gifted by an Aussie artist of the Royal Yacht Britannia, given to the Queen in the 1960s and hung outside her bedroom, shows up unexpectedly in a Royal Navy exhibition in Portsmouth, she tasks her able and discreet assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, to investigate. Since she can’t go around interviewing people on her own, she asks for help from Rozie Oshodi, her assistant private secretary. And, knowing that a case will be solved in no way takes away from the thrill of events leading up to that solution.

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It is the 3 male advisors and a police officer who are drip fed the relevant information to make it appear as if it is they who solve the crimes, and we learn at the end just why that painting was so important to the Queen and Rozie inherits a painting that makes her joyously happy if slightly guilty. Un cuadro desaparecido, una gobernanta muerta y oscuros secretos en lo más profundo de Buckingham Palace. The letters, the Queen’s painting, and the nefarious profiteering scheme appear to be connected, but proof is needed. All to placate the Queen’s Men, who occasionally needed to be jollied along, to have their egos soothed, even as their unfailing efforts to protect the Queen seemed to sometimes devolve into obstruction by default, to the point of rendering a situation unworkable. Bennett has created a Queen character who while duty bound, is as indefatigable in her pursuit of justice as she is in her dedication to the throne.

However, Elizabeth is too smart to be fooled with half a story and insists on being given all the information. A Three Dog Problem proved to be the perfect contrast to the run of rather serious books I’ve read lately. She joined as the Queen’s assistant private secretary a few months previous, after a short career in the army and then at a private bank. The Windsor Knot is a creative novel where Queen Elizabeth II is delighted in solving the crimes that had happened under her watch. The problems besetting the Palace, both architecturally and on the personal level appear steeped in believability.

This is the 30th book, but considering Alex has survived "Kill Alex Cross" before, chances are he survives this one.

Bennett does well to pull off this pretty outlandish double mystery, and as usual, QEII comes out on top. What I like best about this series is how it builds through the layering of characters, how it uses Buckingham Palace as another character, and how the Queen is so central to the story.