Barb's Book Reviews: Review of "Death on the Royal Yacht: Her Majesty The Queen Investigates" by S.J. Bennett

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Review of "Death on the Royal Yacht: Her Majesty The Queen Investigates" by S.J. Bennett

The concept of this series is that Queen Elizabeth uses her excellent observational and deductive skills to help solve crimes. In this sixth book in the 'Queen investigates' collection, the monarch looks into a death on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The Britannia functions as a floating royal household, a naval vessel, and a traveling center of official business. Thus the ship harbors naval officers and sailors (called yotties); the marine band; secretarial assistants; protection officers and police; household staff to clean, do laundry, cook, etc.

(Note: the novel contains a helpful 'Cast of Characters' in the foreword.)

*****

It's 1966 and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are touring the West Indies on the Royal Yacht Britannia. The ship travels from island to island, and the Queen's activities are meticulously scheduled, both on shore and on the ship.

Joan McGraw has been Queen Elizabeth's Assistant Private Secretary (APS) for ten years, and is accustomed to planning all the monarch's activities.

So Joan gets her nose out of joint when a new hire - beautiful blonde Pamela Sinclair - takes over some of the APS duties and makes herself 'Diary Secretary.'

Joan's resentment is obvious when Pamela organizes the perfect open-top car for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip to tour Tobago, which easily tops Joan's idea to visit a museum of some sort.

In fact Joan thinks of Pamela as the character Eve Harrington in the movie 'All About Eve', in which Eve is an ingenue planning to displace famous actress Margo Channing.

Pamela is not destined to be around for long though, because after an evening of partying on Tobago, Pamela is found dead in her cabin on the Britannia. An autopsy confirms Pamela died from an overdose of Seconal barbiturates, and the hunt for the killer is on.

The case is complicated by the fact that no one knows how Pamela got back to the ship from Tobago. Returnees were carefully checked in to prevent stowaways, and Pamela wasn't ticked off the list.

Looking for the killer, Britannia's police and a Scotland Yard inspector want to lay the blame on Derek Green. Green is a 6'4" Black businessman from Tobago who wears beads in his long braided hair. Pamela and Green were seen talking on the beach in Tobago, and when Pamela's death became public, Green took off in a fast boat.

Queen Elizabeth (figuratively) thinks to herself 'not so fast boys', there's no evidence Green gave Pamela drugs or committed any crime. So Queen Elizabeth and her assistant Joan McGraw do their own 'under the radar' investigation.

The Queen and Joan learn several members of Britannia's crew engaged in hijinks that can end their naval careers. Additionally, trouble looms when Pamela Sinclair's father threatens to tell the press the Britannia is a hotbed of drugs. The Queen is anxious to protect the reputation of the monarchy, and she works hard to calm the waters.

As the weeks pass - and the investigations into Pamela's death continue - the Royals tour one island after another. The situation is delicate because many islanders blame the British Monarchy for historical slavery in the West Indies, and they want reparations and independence from the British Commonwealth.

Over time, after several more people are attacked, the Queen's security team and police form conclusions about the killer. They're wrong though. With Joan's help, Queen Elizabeth deduces the REAL identity of the perpetrator, and she subtly points the authorities in the right direction. The men are then very happy about how they finally solved the case. 😄

The charm of these books is twofold: It's fun to see Queen Elizabeth sneakily solving crimes; and it's interesting to follow the Queen's daily life, as she eats breakfast, makes appearances, meets local dignitaries, attends receptions, does paperwork, reads horseracing magazines, writes to her family, chats with her husband, instructs her secretaries...and occasionally soaks her sore feet.

I enjoyed the book but have some criticisms. For one thing, the abundance of characters is confusing The story contains all manner of naval personnel; several royal secretaries and their assistants; various kinds of police and inspectors; miscellaneous friends and relatives; and more. Even with a cast of characters in the foreword, it's a lot to follow. Additionally, I found the murder plot to be overly convoluted. That said, I'd read another book in the series.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Samantha Bond, who does a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, S.J. Bennett, and Dreamscape Media for an ARC of the book.

Rating: 3 stars

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Barb's Book Reviews

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Review of "Death on the Royal Yacht: Her Majesty The Queen Investigates" by S.J. Bennett

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