"All the Queen's Men" by SJ Bennett presents an intriguing premise with the inclusion of Queen Elizabeth II as an amateur detective, but falls slightly short in execution. While the characters are drawn from the real-life royal household, they lack depth and fail to fully come to life on the page. Bennett's attempt to blend the regal atmosphere of Buckingham Palace with a murder mystery plot feels forced at times, resulting in a disjointed reading experience.

The writing style of "All the Queen's Men" is serviceable, but lacks the flair and sophistication needed to truly capture the grandeur of the royal setting. The plot, while promising, fails to deliver on its potential, with the mystery feeling rushed and the resolution lacking in satisfaction. Despite moments of intrigue, the overall enjoyment of the novel is hindered by its uneven pacing and underdeveloped characters. While fans of cozy mysteries and royal intrigue may find some enjoyment in "All the Queen's Men," it ultimately fails to live up to its premise.

I could not get into this book. I thought I would like a good Queen mystery, but it just didn’t move quickly enough for me.

This is such an interesting mystery book. I love the premise of the queen, helping to solve mysteries. The mystery itself was interesting, and it keep me on my toes from start to finish. I love when I kind of think I know who is the villain, but I’m thrown off a little bit by the author. A good mystery needs to keep you guessing which is what this book did.

For fans of cozy mysteries and the royal family alike. The second installment of this delightful series follows as QE11 solves yet another mystery in Buckingham Palace. With sweet nods to the relationship between the Queen and her husband Prince Philip readers will not be able to stop reading!

I had no idea this was book 2 so I was in but of a bind and now finally getting to this book from bookclub girl. I am so sad I waited this long. Queen Elizabeth as a sleuth. She’s been solving crimes under the radar for years. What a fun concept! The queen solve mysteries with the assistance of her private secretary. Such a light and fun, cozy mystery with a royal flair!

I freaking loved this one! I thought it was such a great idea to write Queen Elizabeth this way!! Very creative and such a great mystery!!

*Thank you @williammorrowbooks for the copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Excellent read. I really enjoyed this book.. I love reading about the Queen and her life. The author brings the life of Queen Elizabeth as a very interesting and curious individual. The closeness of her staff to the Queen keeps the story intriguing. Everyone loves a good mystery.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

When I requested this title, I didn't realize it was the 2nd book in a series. So, of course, I felt like I had to read the first one before starting this one. This is what took me so long to get to this book. I could not get into the first book. Not because it was bad, it wasn't. But because it just wasn't holding my interest. It was not something I would have normally picked up to read. Therefore it wasn't a "fun read" for me and I just wasn't in the right headspace reading it. However, that being said, it was good. Just not for me.

Now, on to this one. I liked this one much more than the first one. This one kept my interest. I would definitely recommend this to friends of mine that like the "cozy mysteries" rather than the thriller mysteries.

Who Dunn it at best. Did not read Windsor knot will give it a try
Sherlock Holmes bs queen ! Brilliant

I am a devotee of this charming new series, where the detective is the most famous woman on the planet – Queen Elizabeth II. She shares detecting duties (she’s quite busy of course) with Rozie Oshodi, one of her private secretaries, a London born Nigerian. She and Rozie formed a bond in the first novel as they investigated the mysterious death of a young Russian pianist at Buckingham Palace.

There are many things to love about these books. One is the meticulous backstage look at how an enormous household like Buckingham Palace functions. One is the author’s loving portrayal of the queen – a woman who is busy, organized, intelligent and curious. One is the character of Rozie herself, who is almost, but not quite, a superwoman. She’s respected by her colleagues, but Buckingham Palace appears to be very much an old boy’s club in many ways. It’s something the author turns her observant eye on in this novel.

The death that centers the story happens quickly – one of the housekeepers is discovered in the pool on palace grounds, apparently having bled to death after tripping on a glass that had been left carelessly close to the edge of the pool. It transpires that the woman was not very much liked, except by the Queen, who appreciated her meticulous hand and artistic eye.

There’s also a spate of poison pen letters, some of them received by the dead woman, some by another woman on staff who is resigning and heading to her childhood home in fear. And some of them, both racist and sexist in nature, begin to be received by Rozie herself.

The Queen is upset about the woman’s death, but it appears to have been an accident (spoiler alert: this is a mystery novel, and of course the death was no accident). She’s also concerned about a painting of her ship, the Britannia, that has been discovered in someone else’s office. She knows it is her painting and is utterly puzzled as to how it appeared somewhere else. She sets Rozie to investigate why it’s there and also to retrieve it.

The book is set in 2016, which is a smart move on the part of the author for a couple of reasons. For one, it adds some years of investigating for her elderly detective who, in 2022, is extremely elderly. It adds the background of Brexit and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. And it allows Prince Phillip to still be alive.

The story is a complicated, well thought out, and intelligent one, that centers on art fraud on a grand scale and on the culture of the palace and the way the men around the Queen feel they are shielding her from things. The Queen is always two steps ahead of them, as is Rozie. It’s a subtle bit of social commentary, and it threads through the whole book, including the life and treatment of the dead housekeeper.

I was reminded of how women in say, Victorian times (or even more recently) were deemed “crazy” or “hysterical” when they tried to speak up for themselves. While Bennett’s enjoyable novel is in no way a polemic, it is a thoughtful and realistic look at the way women are treated in our society. (In the 2016 of this novel, Theresa May and Hilary Clinton serve as examples of this treatment). The Queen politely allows the men to have their say, even though she’s always several steps ahead of them and has in fact subtly guided them in the right direction. Being men, they tend to take the credit for themselves.

Mostly, though, this is a wonderfully told mystery novel, with unexpected plot turns, betrayals and most of all, the excellent partnership of the Queen and Rozie. You could almost call it “The Queen and Rozie’s Excellent Adventure.” I hope there are many, many more adventures to come.

Thanks to Book Club Girl Early Read program & NetGalley for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

I’ve had this in my digital TBR stack since last December, and sadly it took the queen’s recent passing to push it to the top. It’s the second in the series (I’ve also read “The Windsor Knot”), and each can be read as a stand-alone.

The premise of this series is that Queen Elizabeth likes to solve mysteries, and apparently has been doing so inconspicuously even as far back as when her father was on the throne. Since becoming queen she recruits her Assistant Private Secretary – who is currently Rozie Oshodie – to provide the actual investigating. But Her Majesty cleverly works out the details, much like one would do the New York Times crossword puzzle. Who knew there were so many mysteries to be solved related to the royal family’s residences – Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham, and Balmoral?

“All The Queen’s Men” contains several elements: a missing painting, the shocking death of a staff member, poison pen letters targeted at multiple people, underground tunnels, Palace items being misappropriated. And Rozie, who is at the heart of the investigation, is an especially likeable character. She is intelligent, clever, and enthusiastically dependable as the queen’s eyes and ears while she investigates on the queen’s behalf. I found the plot to move along briskly with several red herrings, palace conspiracies, and crimes both past and present.

The story begins in the summer of 2016, and author S.J. Bennett notes that she wrote the novel before the death of Prince Philip on April 9, 2021 at age of 99. She dedicates the book to him. I found it bittersweet to read of both Philip and Elizabeth, knowing they are no longer living.

What I especially liked in this novel was the sophisticated perspective - the queen is portrayed respectfully and the book is written as a contemporary mystery, not light-hearted or silly. Most of the characters are fictional, but the author skillfully weaves in real life political issues such as Brexit and references to the then-upcoming 2016 US election with a disruptive presidential candidate. The corgis are included as is the queen’s interest in horseback riding, as well as references to Kate and William.

What I really enjoyed, in addition to the mystery, was the realistic depiction of how the royal household operates, i.e. all the people managing, supervising, coordinating, as well as the hands-on staff who actually make it happen. And the archtectural descriptions, rooms and hallways, furniture, etc. seemed to be written with the familiarity of one who had been there. Bennett provided all those details that let the reader feel like a fly on the wall.

There was one thing that took away a star, though. A certain character reveals a key bit of information to Rozie, which made no sense since that incriminates them. There must have been a way to have Rozie learn of this fact more gracefully. Why didn’t any editor or early reader catch this? So disappointing.

Nonetheless, I highly recommend this book for mystery lovers and royal watchers alike.

Another clever adventure for Queen Elizabeth. I wonder if she knows these stories exist and what her thoughts about it are?

I loved the first book in this series and couldn't wait to read this one. There are a few mysteries going on in this book from the beginning of the story. One of the Queen's favorite paintings has ended up in the offices of the Royal Navy and the Queen tasks her assistant private secretary, Rozie, with finding out how it got there and getting it back. One of the staff is found dead on the grounds near the palace swimming pool and some staff members have been receiving poison pen letters. Although Rozie does most of the investigating and reports her findings back to the Queen, the Queen astutely puts the clues together to help solve the crimes. It was interesting to get a look "behind the scenes" at the every day life and inner workings of the palace and added much to the story.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

All The Queen's Men is a cozy British mystery starring Rozie, the Queen's assistant, and the Queen herself. It's very much like the first book, in that it is quirky and takes influences from Agatha Christie. It was a fun read that I enjoyed.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

A strong mystery that keeps you guessing. And a cheeky view into the life of the Queen and her staff. Hopefully the author will continue the series.

The second installment of Her Majesty the Queen Investigates.

This book was more enjoyable to read than the first and had a better pace. It wasn't as slow in parts like the first one was.

A member of the staff was found dead near the pool and Rozie and Her Majesty are back on the case. We have the same cast of major characters with a few new ones thrown in. This is a cute cozy type mystery that gets readers more familiar with the main character.

Rozie is sent on a few wild missions to get information for Her Majesty so she can piece together how things really went.

This was an enjoyable read and I look forward to the next installment.

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for this ARC

Sometimes, the second book in s series doesn’t live up to the first one. That’s not the case with S.J. Bennett’s second Her Majesty the Queen Investigates mystery, All the Queen’s Men. For some reason, I found the mystery and the characters easier to follow. So, let Bennett take us all back to the summer and fall of 2016. Think Brexit and the U.S. election in world history. There’s also trouble in Buckingham Palace.

Although the book opens in October, when Sir Simon Holcroft, the Queen’s Private Secretary, finds a body at the swimming pool in the palace, there’s an incident three months earlier that triggers the story.

Queen Elizabeth had a painting of the royal yacht, Britannia, that hung outside her bedroom door. She tells Philip she saw that painting the day before at an exhibition of maritime art. The Queen told the Navy she wanted it back. Then, she set her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, on the track of that painting. How and when did it leave her collection? Yes, she has seven thousand pieces of art in her collection, but she has a reason to want that painting of Britannia back. It will takes a few months, threatening letters, and several murders of household staff before the Queen sees her painting again.

Rozie senses a feeling of unease amongst the staff at the palace. She even finds one young woman in tears at lunchtime. She’s been receiving threatening letters, and she’s scared. She’s given her notice, and she’s heading home. By the time Rozie finds a nasty note in her purse, she knows other women have been receiving them as well. Although several of the men in charge of different departments try to keep it a secret, there comes a time when the Queen insists Rozie tell her what’s wrong. Sir Simon, Rozie’s boss, isn’t happy when the Queen calls in the police.

This is the second time the Queen relies on Rozie to be her feet in the investigation, but no one who reads the book will doubt that the Queen asks the questions, and knows what direction to take the investigation. As Bennett said before, the Queen can’t go places because of her rigid schedule, but she’s definitely Nero Wolfe guiding Rozie as she asks questions, looking for that missing painting. And, it’s obvious that the Queen relies on Prince Philip for his humor and support. He’s the one person who understands her moods.

If anyone doubted that Queen Elizabeth could be a detective, they only need to pick up The Windsor Knot or All the Queen’s Men. She’s shrewd, politically astute, and she knows how to perfectly play all those Queen’s men who think of her as a little old lady. This mystery series is a gem.

I enjoyed The Windsor Knot, the first novel in this series with Queen Elizabeth II as an amateur detective. She enlists the help of her assistant private secretary Rozie Oshodi in solving a three part mystery set in 2016. A favorite painting has disappeared from outside the Queen’s bedroom, members of the royal staff have been receiving anonymous threatening letters, and one letter recipient has been found dead beside the palace swimming pool. The Queen secretly solves the intertwined crimes with the help of Rozie. The novel provides insights into the workings of the palace and the Queen’s relationship with Prince Philip and her corgis and dorgis in a humorous way.

I am so enjoying this series featuring Queen Elizabeth II solving mysteries behind the scenes, and this second entry did not disappoint. The action takes place mainly at Buckingham Palace, and Assistant Private Secretary Rozie Oshodi is back to assist the Queen in tracking down a favorite painting of the royal yacht Britannia that went missing years ago from outside her bedroom. I look forward to more in the future!

This is the second book in the series and after enjoying the first I decided to give the second a read. I initially couldn't get into it and ended up listening to it via audio. I ended up enjoying it way more that way!