"Queen Elizabeth II is looking forward to a traditional Christmas gathering with her family in Sandringham when a shocking discovery interrupts holiday plans. A severed hand has been found--but even more unsettling, she recognizes the signet ring still attached to a finger. It belongs to a scion of the St. Cyr family, her old friends from nearby Ladybridge Hall. Despite the personal connection, the Queen wants to leave the investigation to the police--that is, until newspapers drag her name into the matter. As reporters speculate about the proximity of the crime to the Crown and the police fail to investigate a suspicious accident on her doorstep, Elizabeth quietly begins to mull over the mystery herself. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, she delves into the interlocking layers of fact and fiction surrounding the high-profile case. Someone in the quiet county of Norfolk seems to have a secret worth killing for, and the Queen is determined to find out who and what that is--evenif that means discovering that someone in her close circle is a murderer"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

"One imagines Christmas at the royal family’s country house at Sandringham Estate bustling with drama, but Bennett’s version raises the stakes... Bennett charmingly portrays relationships between royal family members." — Washington Post

Evidence that an aristocrat has gone missing—and was possibly murdered—near Sandringham House sets Queen Elizabeth II on the path to discover unsavory family secrets and much more in this new installment of the series the New York Times Book Review calls “sheer entertainment.”

Queen Elizabeth II is looking forward to a traditional Christmas gathering with her family in Sandringham when a shocking discovery interrupts holiday plans. A severed hand has been found—but even more unsettling, she recognizes the signet ring still attached to a finger. It belongs to a scion of the St Cyr family, her old friends from nearby Ladybridge Hall. Despite the personal connection, the Queen wants to leave the investigation to the police—that is, until newspapers drag her name into the matter.

As reporters speculate about the proximity of the crime to the Crown and the police fail to investigate a suspicious accident on her doorstep, Elizabeth quietly begins to mull over the mystery herself. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, she delves into the interlocking layers of fact and fiction surrounding the high-profile case. Someone in the quiet county of Norfolk seems to have a secret worth killing for, and the Queen is determined to find out who and what that is—even if that means discovering that someone in her close circle is a murderer.

Library Journal Reviews

In this third, touchingly timely work in a popular series featuring Queen Elizabeth II, Christmas festivities at Sandringham are horribly overturned when a severed hand is discovered. The eagle-eyed queen immediately recognizes the hand's signet ring as belonging to a member of the St Cyr family, long-established friends, and she works behind the scenes with her assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, to solve the murder. Prepub Alert. Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Library Journal Reviews

Residing at Sandringham House for the Christmas season, the Queen of England is pulled into another case when a disembodied hand washes up on the Norfolk coast near her estate. Aided once more by her redoubtable assistant private secretary Rozie Oshodi, she calmly but relentlessly picks the case apart in Bennett's third "Her Majesty the Queen Investigates" series (following All the Queen's Men). While the mystery is deftly plotted, its delights rest in the ways Bennett evokes character. Elizabeth has a sharply observant mind and an unflappable, stalwart demeanor, which is showcased wonderfully through interior and direct dialogue, as well as multiple interactions with a range of characters, from Philip to a stable hand, and, of course, with Rozie, who is new enough to be aware of royal life but is also very much her own self. Additional charms come through the pacing, which is at once brisk and sedate, as it unspools both through Elizabeth's thoughts and the case's developments on the ground. The settings are superb too, as is the pitch-perfect positioning of the novel as just on the other side of cozy. VERDICT Bennett's newest is marvelous, as is her crackerjack royal detective.—Neal Wyatt