I can almost hear you exhaling a sigh of relief that this is not a review about another Virgin River novel. I diversified! Shocking, I know.
I've got a bit of a shopping problem - my mum will be dancing and jumping up and down to this admission - but I have a specific problem with buying Kindle books. Although I love the feel of having a very real book in my hands, the feel of the paper and seeing the physical progression through a story - and the feel when you break the spine of a new books! Oh goodness, I do love real books.
However, about 8 years or so ago I realised real books are heavy and take up a lot of space, and my habit of reading 2-4 books at a time didn't work when I wanted to read on the bus on the way to work. So I made a decision, and converted to Kindle, and I got rid of most of my physical books. I made a wishlist on Amazon of the books I'd like to keep and I've slowly bought them up... however I didn't stop there.
I also bought books I heard people talk about, I bought books on a whim, I bought my friend's books (I have some amazing friends who are exceptional writers!), I bought books recommended based on my purchases, I bought books on which films and TV shows I like are based, I bought more books by authors I liked in the past so I might like their latest book, I became obessed with authors and had to get their entire works (cough, Kathy Reichs, cough), I am even guilty of buying books with pretty covers or titles that piqued my interest. Seriously. I was not kidding when I said this was a problem.
I recently made a list of all the Kindle books that are to be read that I keep buying/downloading... I stopped counting after I got to 150, because let's be honest, that is embarrassing (I understand how Jeff Bezos made his trillions)
So why have I made this admission of guilt? Well, this was one of my whim books. I love the monarchy, and I was fully ready to invest in the Queen as a kind of Miss Marple meets Jessica Fletcher character. It was also recommended to me because I enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club, it also said if you were a fan of The Crown you would enjoy it. I haven't seen it, but as I said, I am rather fond of the Royal Family, so thought it would be right up my alley so to speak.
Have you ever imagined what might happen if someone was murdered in one of the Royal households? No? Are you imagining it now? Well... this is the book to make you wonder no more.
It's set in April in 2016 and you're brought straight into Windsor Castle. There's no preamble, you're brought straight into the personal mind of Her Majesty the Queen, and she's thinking about the dead body that was found this morning inside the walls of Windsor.
Of course, MI5, the Met and all manner of official bodies are involved in the investigation. The first theory presented to you and HM (Her Majesty) by the combined forces doesn't quite fit the narrative. Instead of letting it lie, HM decides to take things into her own hands.
However, as the Queen of the British Isles, it's hardly proper to be admonishing those who serve the crown and country. So she uses members of her household who would do anything for their Boss and Queen - particularly her new personal secretary Rozie Oshodi.
When Rozie joined the Royal Household, she knew her new job would be demanding, that she would have next to no free time anymore, that there would be many sacrifices. The last thing she expected was to be involved in espionage and shady dealings, all in the name of HM. It turns out, however, that she rather enjoys it, and HM appears to enjoy turning her bright mind and insight to solving a crime.
It's a neat story but with plenty of twists and turns you would expect from a murder mystery novel. Despite the twists and turns, it brings a satisfying ending and it kept me guessing right until the end.
I thought this sounded like fun - as previously mentioned, I love the Royal family and I love a murder mystery, it fits right into the sort of thing I would enjoy. It is also a relatively short story; my Kindle thought it would be a 4 hour read, though it actually took me the best part of two days, but a nice leisurely weekend read in the sun.
The story has plenty of twists and turns, which I wasn't anticipating for such a short novel. It manages to keep you guessing, and you follow the Queen and her assistant as they pull together different clues and pieces of evidence. You don't see the full picture until right at the end.
I enjoyed the characters, which again - for a short novel I thought there would be a lack of character development or description, but it does rely on you knowing a bit about the Queen and her late husband Philip.
This was something I found particularly difficult - the book is set in 2016 and so Prince Philip is alive and well. Reading it so soon after his death, with the fictional Queen's insight into how he brings light to her life. A quote I liked in particular was after he had returned to the castle after being away a few days "The radio was on, there was toast on the table again and already it felt as if the place had come back to life. She couldn't help smiling." - it's the little things that Philip did that brought her joy, and there were little glimpses of this all the way through the book.
I enjoyed these little familiar things shared between family. I know it's fictional, but it's these small interactions that are important to everyone, and there's no doubt that these happen within the Royal household too.
The other point I found interesting was the idea that the perception of most people, even within the Royal household, have of the Queen. This perception is one that I believe is shared the world over - that she is like a grandmother, and therefore doesn't have as tight a grip on things as perhaps she once had. In the novel, the Queen uses this to her advantage, and sees things and puts them together in a way that no one else has.
There are also definite hints of mansplaining from the all male senior detectives, and the assumption that a woman, even the Queen herself, can't possibly grasp what a man has discovered. The beautiful irony is that the Queen had her team of evidence collectors plant the evidence in obvious places to help the authorities catch on.
It's done really well, and it underscores a point so subtely. These men may have solved the crime on their own eventually, or maybe they wouldn't have. Either way, with the Queen's help, it's solved so much faster. She can't tell anyone this though, and these senior investigators think they have done an amazing job and end up on the Honours List in recognition.
It's so often the way historically that women's contributions have been ignored, and the men have reaped the benefits. It felt like an inside joke that we knew these men didn't deserve the recognition they received, but a poignant point to reflect on.
I can't find a negative thing to say about this novel, and I can't wait for this author to bring us some more crime-solving Queen.