{"id":3953,"date":"2021-02-25T05:09:53","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T13:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=3953"},"modified":"2021-02-25T05:09:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T13:09:53","slug":"sj-bennett-the-windsor-knot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/sj-bennett-the-windsor-knot\/","title":{"rendered":"SJ Bennett: The Windsor Knot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This book is adorable in the best possible way.\u00a0 I usually hate it when real people are used as the detective, and in the case of this novel \u201cthe detective\u201d is one of the most famous people on the planet, Queen Elizabeth II.\u00a0 But SJ Bennett has real affection and reverence \u2013 in the nicest way \u2013 for her majesty and the actual detecting is mostly done by the Queen\u2019s Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian who shares the Queen\u2019s affection for horses and would do anything for the \u201cboss.\u201d<\/p>\n

As imagined by Bennett, the Queen in this novel is an intelligent politician who \u201chas a gift for happiness\u201d as her private secretary says toward the end of the novel.\u00a0 She notices everything and because she is more or less the ultimate insider it actually makes her the ultimate outsider \u2013 she\u2019s treated with respect but not actual personal knowledge.\u00a0 Combined with a talent for noticing details, these qualities make her a perfect detective.<\/p>\n

The crime takes place at the Queen\u2019s favorite residence, Windsor Castle.\u00a0 One of her guests, at the castle for a \u201cdine and sleep\u201d is a young Russian pianist who is discovered dead in his wardrobe the morning after.\u00a0 The royal PR department goes into overdrive and the death is put out to the public as a heart attack, but palace security and MI6 are certain it\u2019s the work of Vladimir Putin, and they set up shop in the Castle interviewing (and embarrassing) the staff to the Queen\u2019s dismay.\u00a0 The Queen has different ideas, and she presses Rozie to be her investigator, getting to places and people she can\u2019t get to without creating a furor.<\/p>\n

She and Rozie turn out to work well together and the mystery part of the story is actually slightly gritty, involving spies, drugs and illicit sex, and it\u2019s also quite well thought out, clever and well paced.\u00a0 The overall tone is far from gritty, however, but that aspect of the story adds some reality to the whole proceeding.<\/p>\n

The tone of the novel in general is light and gently humorous, with a great back stage look as the royal apparatus prepares to celebrate the Queen\u2019s 90th<\/sup> birthday (it\u2019s set in 2016, when Obama was still President, and he makes a brief appearance).\u00a0\u00a0 I enjoyed Rozie\u2019s capability and intelligence and her true bonding moment with the Queen \u2013 they take a ride together one afternoon, Rozie acquitting herself admirably as far as the Queen is concerned.<\/p>\n

SJ Bennett may or may not have the details right or the Queen\u2019s personality right but they certainly seem<\/em> right.\u00a0 She tells her story with real affection and admiration for the dutiful woman who has served her country since 1953.\u00a0 In all that time, I\u2019m certain she has become an able politician.\u00a0 There was nothing in this book that felt off \u2013 it all felt so, so right.\u00a0 It\u2019s the most fun I\u2019ve had \u201cbetween the covers\u201d all year, and if there is a more enjoyable book written this year, I would be very much surprised.\u00a0 I cannot wait for the Queen and Rozie\u2019s next adventure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This book is adorable in the best possible way.\u00a0 I usually hate it when real people are used as the detective, and in the case of this novel \u201cthe detective\u201d is one of the most famous people on the planet, Queen Elizabeth II.\u00a0 But SJ Bennett has real affection and reverence \u2013 in the nicest … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,254,514,516,515,452,291],"class_list":["post-3953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-british","tag-london","tag-queen-elizabeth-ii","tag-sj-bennett","tag-the-windsor-knot","tag-traditional-detective","tag-william-morrow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3955,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3953\/revisions\/3955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}