"The Windsor Knot" by SJ Bennett is a worthy sequel to "All the Queen's Men," offering a delightful blend of royal intrigue and cozy mystery. The characters, particularly Queen Elizabeth II and her trusted assistant Rozie, are given more depth and development in this installment, making them more engaging and relatable to readers. Bennett continues to excel in capturing the regal atmosphere of Buckingham Palace, immersing readers in the opulent world of the British monarchy.

Bennett's writing style remains consistent with the first book, with clear and concise prose that keeps the plot moving at a brisk pace. The plot of "The Windsor Knot" is filled with twists and turns, as Queen Elizabeth II once again finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation. While the intrigue may not be as high-stakes as in the first book, the novel still manages to keep readers guessing until the very end. The logic behind the relationships and decisions of the characters is generally sound, adding depth and authenticity to the narrative. Overall, "The Windsor Knot" is a charming and enjoyable read that will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries and royal intrigue.

This book was not for me. There is an unexplained death in Windsor Castle and The Queen decides to solve it. I did not like the characters or the mystery. I am not a big royal fan and had a hard time believing the Queen would care enough to solve the crime. The author is a big royal fan and spent a lot of book explaining royal protocol and the rules governing the castle. The mystery was contrived and did not make a lot of sense. If you are a big royal fan you will probably enjoy the book.

3.5 stars

SJ Bennett sure knows how to spin a smart idea into an even smarter story.

"The Windsor Knot," the first book in her cozy mystery series, "Her Majesty the Queen Investigates," puts a fun twist on the reign of Queen Elizabeth II by reimagining her as a behind-the-scenes sleuth within the walls of Windsor Castle. And when there is a mystery to solve, you can bet the Queen will not rest until the case is closed.

It’s 2016, and the Queen’s 90th birthday is drawing near. The Castle is abuzz with party planning while Her Majesty is quite busy with her queenly duties. Until, that is, a guest pianist at one of the Queen’s dine and sleeps is found dead in his room. And just like that, in two shakes of a corgi’s tail, the Queen is on the case, discreetly working to solve the mystery of the man's demise.

What makes "The Windsor Knot" so entertaining is that not only do we spend time with the Queen, but we are also treated to a guest appearance by Prince Philip. The two lovebirds are delightful together, and their verbal exchanges are so very amusing. Clever nods are also given to other members of the royal family, even Fergie, and it all makes for a rollicking good time.

The mystery itself is, I suppose, entertaining enough, but it's your basic, standard mystery fare. My attention often wandered, particularly when the Queen was MIA from the page and the focus of the narrative would switch to a secondary character. This is because Bennett has written her with such warmth and kindness, such charm and intelligence, that I wanted to spend every single word with her and forget everyone else. (Except Prince Philip, of course.)

Overall, "The Windsor Knot" is a satisfying start to what I think will be a great cozy mystery series. "All the Queen’s Men" is the second book, and I can’t wait to see what puzzle the Queen will solve next.


My sincerest appreciation to SJ Bennett, William Morrow, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

This was so much fun. I loved imagining Her Majesty solving mysteries! And Rozie was a delight as well. I can't wait to pick up the next book in this series! It is so different from other mysteries I read, which is always very appreciated.

After a dine and sleep at Windsor Castle, one guest is found murdered in a compromising position. As the investigators look into what happened, so does the Queen.

This was an entertaining read. The portrayal of the Queen was well done, and there were a few twists and turns that kept me guessing,

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGallery for the ebook.

This book was just a delight.

I went into it thinking it would be light and funny and it was, that but it was so much more. I felt like the author had respect for the Queen and her role. She didn't have her acting in a foolish way or taking up things she would never do. It was realistic enough that you didn't have to dispend disbelief and I really appreciated that. (Also, I swear every time Philip spoke I heard Matt Smith from The Crown.) I loved the insight into the relationship between the Queen and her staff. I enjoyed hearing the Queen's thoughts, seeing her as a person as well as her title.

The mystery was smart and not easy to figure out which I loved. It kept my interest and kept me guessing. And Rozie...Oh how I loved her! She was a smart, tough, kind character who I just want to read more and more about. It takes a real talent to balance all the different perspectives that the author did and she pulled it off beautifully.

Honestly, I just didn't want this book to end. It was just the book I needed. I added it as a favorite and I've already purchased the next in the series. And I can't wait to read it!

Thank you to William Morrow and Custom House and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Can you imagine Queen Elizabeth II going around solving crimes? I can’t either. Yet, I was willing to suspend belief to enjoy a fun mystery with the Queen as the protagonist. However, the mystery was pretty predictable. There were very twists. The novel also did not seem to get the queen’s mannerisms. Overall, it was a great idea but not executed well. I recommend this for fans of the Annie Oakley mysteries, the Brontës mysteries, and the Jane Austen mysteries.

HM the Queen as an amateur detective. Who knew? The first book in what is presumed to be a series about the Queen solving mysteries that happen around her. This one involves the murder of a musician who then stayed overnight at Windsor Castle. His death is first suspected to be accidental and quite unsavory. Later it is determined that it was murder. The queen asks her assistant private secretary to quietly interviews. The queen then takes what is learned and subtly makes sure that those actually investigating are aware of what is uncovered.

This was a good first book in the series. There were a lot of characters with various titles that I had a hard time keeping straight. There was an element of wit and charm with the interactions between the queen and others, especially Prince Phillip. It wasn’t hard to envision the queen as sleuth.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A fun, delightfully enthralling mystery imagining the Queen of England as an amateur sleuth pulling all the strings.

THE WINDSOR KNOT is quite frankly the most fun I have had while reading a mystery in a while. Bennett developed a side to the Queen as a detective that seems almost believable. Having the monarch is actually behind the scenes trying to solve a murder is both brilliantly conceived and completely entertaining.

There is a smartness to the prose which is only made better by the wit and candor of the characters. For every flashy royal moment that is seen by the public, there is a more intimate scene between Queen Elizabeth, her family, Rozie, and her closest confidants. This duality allows the reader to feel like they get to know the Queen even if it is just a fictional version of her.

Bennett truly weaves together an enjoyable story by bringing together contemporary history, royal pomp and circumstance, and a wonderful whodunnit to solve.

Murder mystery with a twist as the “undercover” detective is none other than Queen Elizabeth! The story is interesting and quite humorous at times. Although I highly doubt that the Queen solves such mysteries in reality, it is not so far-fetched to acknowledge her intelligence and attention to details. She would also not shine a spotlight on her accomplishments or problem-solving attributes, preferring to quietly influence the outcome of a situation.Although fiction, I felt that the personalities of the Queen and Prince Phillip were nicely captured. Overall, a quick and enjoyable read.

I enjoyed this story and look forward to others in the series. It was an interesting way of seeing Queen Elizabeth. She became more human.

When a man dies at Windsor Castle after a “Dine and Sleep” in the company of the Queen, Her Majesty takes it personally and decides to find out exactly what happened. A young Russian man, a piano player, had been invited at the behest of wealthy Russian friends of Charles. Maksim Brodsky was found strangled in his wardrobe, strung up to look like a suicide or an unfortunate accidental death. But the nature of some of the knots make the police think that it was actually murder.

The Queen is disturbed to think that a murder would happen in her favorite home, so she begins to ask the police and security services what had happened to Brodsky. They tell her that they think he was assassinated, under orders of Putin. But she doesn’t believe that there is a Russian sleeper spy somewhere in her employ at the castle, so she outs to find out what she can on her own. Being the Monarch, she can’t go around asking potential suspects where they were or trying to find motives for the attack. But she does have staff members that she can ask to help her with her investigation.

The Queen’s assistant private secretary Rozie Oshodi is particularly willing and able to move about making quiet inquiries with those who had been at the Dine and Sleep, and with friends of Brodsky. She is also able to get messages to other friends of the Queen who may have a piece of the puzzle that Her Majesty is trying to put together.

While the Queen goes about her daily business at Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace, getting ready for her birthday and visits from other world leaders or family, she gathers up tidbits of information from all the various sources around her. But when Rozie comes to her with the news of another death as well as two separate attacks in London (one against Rozie herself) that could all be connected to Brodsky’s murder, the Queen knows that time is running out. She needs to figure out what happened that night before anyone else is hurt.

The Windsor Knot is a clever murder mystery filled with political intrigue and an insider’s view of the English monarchy around 2116. Author S.J. Bennett drops readers into the world of Windsor Castle and makes you feel like you are a fly on the wall of Queen Elizabeth’s home. She perfectly captures the voice of the royals, and adds humor and humanity while watching the most surprising amateur detective solve a complex crime that has the police and Security Service stumped.

I really enjoyed The Windsor Knot. I am an anglophile, and I loved feeling like I was inside the walls of Windsor Castle, watching as the Queen went about her tasks and seeing how she pieced together the solution, and then how she went on and lead the professional investigators to the right solution without them realizing who was really in charge. The Queen Elizabeth in these pages is determined, clever, intelligent, and gracious, just as I would expect her to be in real life. This one is lots of fun!

Egalleys for The Windsor Knot were provided by William Morrow through NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, the plot moved along at a good pace and the characters were interesting and who doesn't like the idea of Queen Elizabeth II solving mysteries.

Interesting, intriguing and creative story. Inventive way of painting a picture of a world renowned figure who is shrouded in prestige and mystery.

This was a cute cozy type mystery. It wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was good one I got into it a way.

Queen Elizabeth is hosting a gathering at Windsor Castle when one of the guests is found murdered. She has all the people on the case, but feels something is off and starts investigating things independently on her own with the help of one of her newest staff Rozie. They have to be careful no one notices what they are doing to find who murdered the guest. It was fun to have a fictional depiction of the Queen using her brain to outsmart the smart police people and then present them with the real timeline of things in the end

This has great potential as a series of the cozy mystery variety.

“The Windsor Knot: A Novel” by English author SJ Bennett took a premise for a new series entitled “Her Majesty the Queen Investigates” and wrote an engaging first novel. So much so that I will be first in line to read book two.

When I first began reading the book, that was not necessarily the case. To begin with, may I say that I have ENORMOUS RESPECT for Queen Elizabeth II. She has been an amazing queen for the UK. She is currently 95 years old, has been the reigning monarch for 69 years. In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, she was 93, and had 295 official events she attended. Very impressive. She has exemplified a life of service.

The premise of this fictional series is according to the publisher : “a highly original and delightfully clever crime series in which Queen Elizabeth II secretly solves crimes while carrying out her royal duties.” I think Queen Elizabeth is a brilliant and very capable woman so no problem there in my eyes as long as this premise is carried out respectfully.

Well, when the book first started and the crime first happened I was kind of worried it would not be. Why? Because the crime was pretty salacious and had sexual elements to it.

The publisher’s summation of the book:

“It is the early spring of 2016 and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted by the shocking and untimely death of a guest in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene leads some to think the young Russian pianist strangled himself, yet a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play. When they begin to question the Household’s most loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they’re looking in the wrong place.
For the Queen has been living an extraordinary double life ever since her teenage years as “Lilibet.” Away from the public eye and unbeknownst to her closest friends and advisers, she has the most brilliant skill for solving crimes. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian officer recently appointed to the Royal Horse Artillery, the Queen discreetly begins making inquiries. As she carries out her royal duties with her usual aplomb, no one in the Royal Household, the government, or the public knows that the resolute Elizabeth won’t hesitate to use her keen eye, quick mind, and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice.
SJ Bennett captures Queen Elizabeth’s voice with skill, nuance, wit, and genuine charm in this imaginative and engaging mystery that portrays Her Majesty as she’s rarely seen: kind yet worldly, decisive, shrewd, and, most important, a superb judge of character.”

As the book continued, I realized that the author treated Queen Elizabeth’s character with great respect and love. It became obvious that she was an enormous fan of the Queen too!

I also really enjoyed the character, Rozie, who is the Queen’s new assistant whom she quickly involves in helping her discreetly solve the crime, and, point those in authority to do so too without them having any idea the Queen is helping them.

One caveat though—the book is not a traditional murder mystery that throws up all of the clues so that you can figure out who committed the crime along with the Queen.

From a conversation about the Queen at the Windsor horse show that Rozie is having with Sir Simon the senior Queen’s assistant:

“Rozie loved the horse, but she found it hard to drag her eyes away from his owner.

“She looks so happy.”

“Doesn’t she?”

“But . . . she looks like she’s always been this up, and you told me yesterday she was miserable as hell, and her leg was killing her.”

“She has a talent for happiness,” Sir Simon said. “Luckily. She was a happy child, much loved. I think that’s what got her through the next seven decades.”

“She must have been bloody happy.”

“I think she was.”

To no one’s surprise, and his owner’s absolute joy, Barbers Shop won the championship and the Queen got a fifty-pound Tesco voucher. She spent a while with the trainer and the horse afterwards, congratulating them both on another great performance and sharing a moment of glee. Then she was off to see the children on their ponies. A whole new generation of young riders were coming through. It was marvelous. How many carrots could you get with fifty-pounds at Tesco? she wondered. She would have to find out.”

Here is one more excerpt where fairly new assistant Roxie—who is drafted in by the Queen to secretly solve the crime—speaks with a retired personal secretary of the Queen named Aileen:

“ “…. You have to decide if you want to trust me, but I’m you, remember. If we can’t trust each other, who is there?”

Rozie had already thought about this. She quelled the panic that the Official Secrets Act always induced and took a deep breath. “The head of MI5 thinks Putin ordered a hit, but the Queen’s going in a totally different direction. The victim was an entertainer a dine and sleep. She wants me to talk to one or two of the guests.”

“And Box?”

“They suspect the Household staff. Sleeper agents.”

“Oh God, she’ll hate that!”

“I think she does.”

“And let me guess, Simon’s fine with it.”

“He seems to be, yes. I mean, it’s a nightmare organizing the interviews with them all, and the atmosphere is terrible and that’s upsetting, but he’s getting on with it.”

“He would,” Aileen said, with some finality.

Rozie was confused. “I mean, yes. Why wouldn’t he?”

Aileen stared into her glass for a moment. “I don’t know, exactly. But I do know that if the Boss thinks it’s a bad line of investigation, it probably is. Has she tested it out?”

“Um . . . well, yes, she has.” At last the meeting with Henry Evans made proper sense. “She met with a man who’s studied the subject for years,” Rozie explained. “The death at Windsor didn’t seem to fit the pattern at all. The victim wasn’t high-profile or well-connected, like they usually are outside Russia. He wasn’t in his own home. And the murder was sloppy. She seemed to know the details didn’t fit.”

Aileen laughed. “Yeah. She doesn’t just trust her instincts—she trusts her experts. And she’s the best at knowing which ones to pick. You would be, after seventy odd years, wouldn’t you?”

“I guess,” Rozie said. “Sixty-five years, I suppose. Officially.”

“Oh, she’s been doing this much longer than that.”

“What do you mean?”

An enigmatic smile stole across Aileen’s face. She closed her eyes briefly and rolled her shoulders. Then she put down her glass and fixed Rozie with a steady gaze. “The Queen solves mysteries. She solved the first one when she was twelve or thirteen, so the story goes. On her own. She sees things other people don’t see—often because they’re all looking at her. She knows so much about so many things. She’s got an eagle eye, a nose for bullshit, and a fabulous memory. Her staff should trust her more. People like Sir Simon, I mean.”

“But he trusts her totally!”

“No, he doesn’t. He thinks he does, but he also thinks he knows best. All her private secretaries do. They always have. They think they’re brilliant, which to be fair they usually are, and they think the other men in their clubs are brilliant, and the heads of the big organizations who went to Oxbridge with them are brilliant, and they’re all being brilliant together and she should just sit there and be grateful.”

Rozie laughed out loud. She was really very fond of Sir Simon, but this described his style exactly. “OK,” she agreed.

“They should trust her. But they don’t. She’s one of the most powerful women in the world, supposedly, but she spends her whole bloody time having to listen to them and they don’t listen back. It drives her bonkers. I mean, she grew up with it. She was a girl in the thirties; male domination was normal. God, even now I bet you get it, too, but at least we know it’s wrong. She’s had to work out for herself how good she is, what she can do. And what she can do is notice things. See when something’s off. Find out why. Unpick the problem. She’s a bit of a genius at it, actually. But she needs help.” “

Thank you to the publisher William Morrow, and, to,NetGalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book and for allowing me to review it. ( Publication date 9 March 2021)

The idea of Queen Elizabeth secretly solving mysteries made me very excited to pick up this book, but that excited feeling faded pretty fast. I quickly became bored with the investigation and all of the talk of the international politics. Truly, there were too many details and moving parts to this story, and when you pair that with the far too many characters to keep up with, I just couldn't make myself care about the case at all. Queen Elizabeth is a delight, and I liked the way she secretly worked with her assistant secretary Rozie to solve the crime, but this just wasn't enough to redeem this story for me.


Thank you to William Morrow for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Queen Elizabeth is plunked into the midst of a murder investigation when a visiting Russian pianist is found dead in her beloved Windsor Castle. Underestimated by some of her staff and British Intelligence, SJ Bennett's Elizabeth is part Miss Marple, part Lilibet, and part monarch. The determined and inquisitive nonagenarian and her Assistant Private Secretary Rozie Oshodi unobtrusively leverage the Queen's resources for information. While the Russian government is suspected, many who attended the “Dine and Sleep” event are suspect. The intriguing and relatively easy going mystery unfolds as the queen, MI5, and her staff go about business as usual. Readers keen on imaging the lives of the British royal family and fans of Agatha Christie-esque stories will enjoy Bennett’s first installment in this new series.

OK, so I have always loved Queen Elizabeth, but I never knew that she was Agatha Christie reincarnated. This book is a bit of fluff, but because of the setting (Windsor Castle and its environs) and the characters (the Queen of England),it is a fun bit of fluff. It is somewhat bittersweet as I suspect that the relationship between Prince Philip and the Queen is somewhat true to life and of course now in real life the Queen is alone. this book was an entertaining and fun read.

I very much enjoyed this first book in what I see will be a series. It was a light, cozy mystery with echoes of Agatha Christie for me, and my reading coincided with the death of Prince Phillip, so was particularly poignant. I enjoyed Her Majesty pulling the strings in the background, and it felt realistic, with good touches of detail. I look forward to what comes next.