A Death in Diamonds by SJ Bennett Narrator: Samantha Bond
Series: Her Majesty the Queen Investigates #4
Published by Dreamscape Media on January 21, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Historical Mystery
Length: 12 hrs 19 mins
Pages: 384
Format: Audiobook
Purchase at Bookshop.org or Audible
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The royally brilliant fourth book in the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates mystery series!
1957 - A young woman is found dead in a mews house a mile from Buckingham Palace, wearing only silk underwear and a a diamond tiara. An older man is discovered nearby, garrotted and pierced through the eye with a long, sharp implement.
According to the police, a high society card game was going on downstairs that night. One of the players surely committed the murders, but each of them can give the others an alibi.
When someone very close to her is implicated, the young Queen is drawn in to the investigation...
I’ve read this series from the beginning and thoroughly enjoy seeing Queen Elizabeth II as an amateur sleuth. She knows people well and has access to a lot of information but needs her assistant private secretary to do most of the legwork. This time around we’ve gone back in time to the late 50s. It’s early in the Queen’s reign and she has two young children. She and Prince Phillip have been married about 10 years and their marriage has more stressors than most, one being that a club Prince Phillip attends has been connected to a murder.
Joan, the assistant private secretary, is bold, resourceful, and intelligent. She is the only one the Queen can truly trust, since in addition to the murder case, they are trying to figure out which of the Queen’s advisors has been attempting to sabotage her trips abroad.
The peeks into royal life are fun. The queen visits a few other countries in this one and it’s interesting to get a fictional look behind what the cameras show. Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother are around, adding humor and bringing out the personal side of the Queen.
The post-war setting was interesting, with the places and famous people. The attitude of the times also left the Queen and Joan underestimated by the mustached men. They use it to their advantage but it had to be frustrating.
The mystery is good, with several suspects and red herrings. The police are making little progress, which is why the Queen decides she need to find information to help prod them along.
I listened to the audio and the narrator did a wonderful job. The characters were distinct and the pacing was good. She handled the humor well and made the Queen kind and relatable and solid and practical. She really is a fabulous character.
Looks like the next in the series will take place in 1961. I’m looking forward to Joan and the Queen solving another murder.
About SJ Bennett
SJ Bennett grew up reading mystery stories and travelling the world as an army child. After a varied career (her procrastination years) she wrote several award-winning books for teenagers before turning to adult crime novels with the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series. Her books have been published in over twenty languages, from Japanese to Catalan. She has taught writing with City Lit, City University and the Royal Literary Fund, and lives in South London, where she also runs a writing podcast for aspiring authors called Prepublished.
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