The Queen Who Came in from the Cold by SJ Bennett Narrator: Samantha Bond
Series: Her Majesty the Queen Investigates #5
Published by Dreamscape Media on November 18, 2025
Source: Library
Genres: Historical Mystery
Length: 10 hrs 17 mins
Pages: 336
Format: Audiobook
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It's 1961 and the Queen is planning her state visit to Italy aboard Britannia. But before she goes, an unreliable witness claims to have seen a brutal murder from the royal train. Did it really happen, and could the victim be a missing friend of Princess Margaret's new husband, Tony Armstrong Jones? The Queen and her assistant private secretary, Joan McGraw, get to work on their second joint investigation, little imagining that this time it will take them all the way to Venice in a tale of spies, lies and Cold War skulduggery.
The Queen is travelling to Italy and one of her entourage witnesses a body dump while traveling on the train. Initially it is thought that the witness was drunk, but the more time that passes, the more they are realizing that it might have actually happened. The Queen, along with her assistant private secretary, Joan McGraw, decide they need to look into the case, maybe give the official investigation a nudge or two.
This time around, as the title suggests, we get a little Cold War intrigue along with the murder mystery, While some of the household are reading James Bond thrillers, the Queen is dealing with her own potential international incident. I love the Queen in these books. She’s a working woman, with an unusual job with unusual constraints, but still a job, in addition to being a wife, mother, daughter, sister. She’s also a woman in a man’s world, surrounded by people who try to protect her when reality is she is well aware of what’s going on and has the intelligence and curiosity of any good amateur sleuth. Joan and the Queen do a fabulous job of working through and around the other people in the palace (or on the ship) to make sure the Queen’s name stays out of everything.
There were several twists and turns and it did all seem a little improbable, but it was a fun listen nonetheless.
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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