Pam Goodwin
Chief Copy Editor
pgoodwin1@murraystate.edu
When one thinks of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, one is likely to picture an old woman in a brightly colored dress and matching hat. Behind closed doors, however, the little old lady in the hat knows far more than she lets on. Her Majesty spends her days doing her boxes, attending public engagements and preventing her children from uprooting the entire monarchy with many, many scandalous secrets. In “The Windsor Knot,” S. J. Bennett imagines a world in which one of the monarchy’s many secrets is, in my opinion, not the most scandalous secret they have.
The novel opens at Windsor Castle in 2016, the morning after a dine-and-sleep hosted by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. HRH has invited several Russian nationals, including a billionaire and his wife, a 24-year-old pianist with an anti-Putin blog, two ballerinas and the Russian ambassador. At the same time, the Governor of Windsor Castle is hosting a small group of experts on Chinese foreign policy in hopes of uncovering China’s true intentions behind their new trade plan, the Belt and Road.
The morning after the dine-and-sleep, Her Majesty’s Private Secretary, Sir Simon, informs her that the pianist, Maksim Brodsky, has been found dead in his room of what appears to be an accidental suicide. Brodsky was found in a wardrobe with a tie around his neck, a case of autoerotic asphyxiation gone wrong. However, the police investigation finds that the knot was haphazardly tied, leading to a suspicion of foul play.
Because of Brodsky’s anti-Putin side blog, MI5 is convinced that Putin ordered a hit on the man through a sleeper agent in the Royal Household. But Her Majesty isn’t convinced. In secret, she launches her own investigation via the services of her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi. Oshodi then travels all over England, interviewing Brodsky’s friends and old classmates to find out who might be responsible for his death.
As Oshodi conducts interviews, the Queen learns that one of the members of the Chinese trade experts, Rachel Stiles, has been found dead in her apartment of an apparent overdose. Just a little while later, one of Brodsky’s old school friends, Anita Moodie, is also found dead. MI5 dismisses both of these deaths as simply tragic, but Her Majesty isn’t convinced. She sends Oshodi to investigate the connection between the two women, and what she discovers is a plot twist that rivals those of Agatha Christie.
Through Oshodi’s interviews and a former police officer named Billy MacLachlan, Her Majesty discovers the truth behind Brodsky’s death. Rather than take her findings to the MI5 officers herself, she has MacLachlan slowly feed her information to the officers in order to convince those officers that they, not the Queen, solved the case. In an interview with the investigation’s leaders, the Queen “learns” the three deaths were not wholly unrelated.
“The Windsor Knot” has a 3.58/5 star rating on Goodreads, and I can see why. The idea of Queen Elizabeth II being some sort of secret “Sherlock Holmes” is intriguing, and what made me pick up this book in the first place. Bennett’s writing is wonderful and feels real, and it’s abundantly clear that she’s done a lot of research into the inner workings of the monarchy.
But, this novel focuses very heavily on the crime itself, and not so much on the characters. In the few conversations the Queen has with others, she’s always talking about or thinking about the murder, and the reader doesn’t get a real sense of who the Queen is as a character. She’s almost relegated to the background, like a boss who stays in their office all day and has someone else do most of the work.
The Queen isn’t the only character who falls into this hole. We learn a lot about Rozie Oshodi through her conversations with Brodsky’s friends and one of the Queen’s former APMs, but I honestly cannot tell if she has a personality of her own.
Oshodi does about 97% of Her Majesty’s sleuthing for her, and MacLachlan does the other three. This doesn’t feel like the mystery-solving, Nancy Drew-esque Queen Elizabeth II I expected, but it absolutely makes sense in context with how the real monarchy functions. I give this novel a solid 4/5 stars. Despite its flaws, this novel has an intriguing plot and is well-written. I recommend this novel to anyone who likes a cozy, feel-good mystery, or someone who wants to see the Queen in a new, exciting way.
If you’re interested in “The Windsor Knot,” you can find it on Amazon.com or you can check it out through the Calloway County Public Library.