This 5th book in the series 'Her Majesty the Queen Investigates' harks back to 1961, when the capitalist Western Bloc was in a cold war with the communist Eastern Bloc. The rivalry leads to a murder and an MI5 problem, both of which Queen Elizabeth helps resolve.
The book works fine as a standalone.
*****
Early in the story, Queen Elizabeth and her entourage board the Royal Train for a trip up the west coast of Great Britain.
Before the locomotive departs, Princess Margaret's substitute lady-in-waiting, a striking blonde called Sandra Pole, boards the train with her chihuahua Conchita.
The first evening on the Royal Train goes well, with martinis, dinner, and lively conversation.
The next morning, lady-in-waiting Sandra Pole tells Joan McGraw - the Queen's assistant private secretary (APS) - something shocking.
Sandra claims she went to get a wrap yesterday evening, looked out the window, and saw three men disposing of a dead body. The police determine the general location, search, and find nothing.
Then Sandra admits she shaded the truth. It turns out Sandra snuck into the Queen's railroad car yesterday AFTERNOON, to take a photo of her dog Conchita in the Queen's bathtub. That's when she saw the horrible event.
This time the police locate a dead body in a cistern. The victim is photographer Pavel Michalowski, who's a friend of Princess Margaret's husband, the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones.
The Queen, who's surreptitiously helped the authorities before, becomes interested in the case. By chance, the Queen's perusal of a horse magazine gives her a clue to Michalowski's killers, and - in a roundabout way - the Queen informs the police.
That's just the BEGINNING of her majesty's involvement in the case though. The Queen learns Michalowski, who played chess, had connections with the immigrant community, and was known to help high-profile defectors escape from the Eastern bloc.
Happily, the Queen has useful connections. Her APS Joan McGraw was a code-breaker during WWII, and is familiar with the world of espionage;
and Joan's boyfriend is Major Hector Ross, Head of D Branch, MI5.
As a result, Joan gets a peek at evidence collected from Michalowski's apartment, and is able to inform the Queen that there ARE arrangements to help a defector escape from Russia. Astoundingly, the plans are tied to the Queen and Prince Philip's upcoming trip to Italy on the yacht Brittania.
No spoilers, but the Queen feels obligated to pull all sorts of strings to avoid a HUGE diplomatic incident AND to assist the defector. Her majesty's clever machinations come to involve an admiral;
naval personnel;
intelligence agents;
Italian fishermen;
the Queen Mother;
the indispensable APS Joan McGraw; and more.
All this is fun and compelling, and one admires the Queen's intelligence, spunk, and ability to dissimulate.
Her majesty's wily operations necessarily take only a fraction of her time, and the Queen spends time with Prince Phillip - who affectionately calls her cabbage and sausage;
takes her children to a point to point horse race;
performs her royal duties;
reads the briefings in her red box;
plays with her corgis; and more.
The story has unexpected twists, as expected in a good mystery. I like this series, and this book is my favorite so far. Recommended to fans of suspense stories.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Samantha Bond, who does a fine job.
Thanks to Netgalley, S.J. Bennett, and Dreamscape Media for a copy of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
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