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There are three mysteries put forward: a painting of the Queen's that has gone missing and found in the Navy's offices; a nasty series of poison pen letters that are making work life in the palace tense and unhappy; and the death of a housekeeper which is deemed an accident. But is it? Bennett braids all three together to give the reader (and the Queen) a great deal to think about. Richard Osman used to be a TV celebrity who secretly wrote crime fiction in his spare time. Then The Thursday Murder Club came out and he is now a worldwide publishing phenomenon who makes TV shows. Osman is a very funny writer, a brilliant observer of middle-class mores, who cares about the lives of his protagonists – residents facing their mortality in retirement homes – and it shows. He is also good at killing people all over Kent, and getting his unlikely quartet of detectives to work out why and how. Book two, The Man Who Died Twice, is as good if not better. It is the Queen who presses the investigation and senses that something more fundamental may be amiss. The second book in this series, once again, features Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II secretly solving crimes with the assistance of her Assistant Private Secretary Rozie Oshodi. On top of all that, the Queen has seen her personal painting of the royal yacht Britannia, given to her by the artist in 1963, in an exhibit of maritime art in Portsmouth. Prior to Portsmouth, Her Majesty had last seen the painting decades ago, hanging outside her bedroom door, and she has no idea how or when it left her possession.
A Three Dog Problem by SJ Bennett | Waterstones
Along the way, there are some tragic accidents and poison-pen letters keep turning up. Are the two things related? Are these more than accidents? What secrets has Rozie been stirring up? Things are quite tense in the household staff as a refurbishment campaign is coming up. Once again the Queen directs procedures from afar without letting on her involvement. All the while having to disguise from her various Secretaries what is happening. The prodding from behind the scenes, a word dropped here, a participle left hanging there. I began to find some of it quite annoying. All to placate the Queen’s Men, who occasionally needed to be jollied along, to have their egos soothed, even as their unfailing efforts to protect the Queen seemed to sometimes devolve into obstruction by default, to the point of rendering a situation unworkable. The Breakages Business was about spiriting away and selling royal belongings that wouldn't be missed, like small gifts, plates, rugs, old draperies, half-used candles, tins of food, and so on - small things whose absence wouldn't be noticed.There's also a lovely tongue-in-cheek observation that runs through the whole thing that, whether you're one of the richest women in the world or not, eventually as an older woman you become somewhat invisible and underestimated - but you can actually turn this to your advantage in lots of ways. I listened to the audiobook narrated, once again, by Jane Copland and her familiar British accent added to my listening experience. The premise of both books is pleasingly simple and wonderfully well drawn. She might be the modern world's longest-reigning monarch, but that doesn't stop the Queen solving mysteries in her spare time.
A Three Dog Problem by SJ Bennett | Waterstones A Three Dog Problem by SJ Bennett | Waterstones
The problems besetting the Palace, both architecturally and on the personal level appear steeped in believability. During her inquiries, Rozie ventures into an underground tunnel system that connects royal palaces and learns of a 1980s scheme called the Breakages Business, which was carried out by some members of the Queen's staff. Once again, the Queen involves Rozie in her investigative process, much to Rozie's delight. She genuinely likes her Boss and is even willing to help arrange things so that, once again, the senior men in the household are convinced that they figured it all out. That takes a generosity that I don't think I have, to let someone else take credit for your ideas and footwork.At the same time, Rozie learns that her friend Mary van Renen, secretary to one of the Queen's advisors, is quitting her job because of nasty poison pen letters. Other women have also received vicious missives, including a royal housekeeper named Cynthia Harris and Rozie herself. She writes about the Queen and her wider family with clear affection and warmth and an in-depth knowledge and research of Palace life that shines through every scene. In the wake of a referendum which has divided the nation, the last thing the Queen needs is any more problems to worry about. But when an oil painting of the Royal Yacht Britannia - first given to the Queen in the 1960s - shows up unexpectedly in a Royal Navy exhibition, she begins to realise that something is up. It all shows and, while undoubtedly not getting to work in the Palace was a wrench for Bennett, the Palace's loss is most definitely readers' gain.
A Three Dog Problem by SJ Bennett | Crime Fiction Lover
The only thing I can think of is that this wasn't as fun as the first. The fun didn't exactly hit home for me. I like some of the issues and the characters that this book had (I love Rozie and I did like the Queen, but I like them the most when they were together and that wasn't enough for me in this book), but the fun and wonder of Windsor Knot wasn't here. I wonder if it's because it was trying to do too many things - poison pen letters, murder, stolen paintings. Maybe if one of these elements was removed and the story focused on characters a tad more, maybe it would have worked for me...? History Makers: Female Writers Dominate the 2023 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award Shortlist The police think Cynthia's demise is an accident, but Her Majesty isn't so sure, especially when she learns Cynthia was a spiteful shrew who'd been receiving menacing notes.
Summary
And in a development that made for a very happy winter weekend curled under a blanket with a glass of Baileys, the sequel A Three Dog Problem has been released in time for Christmas - presumably because, having been sold to publishers in 14 countries and the subject of a seven-figure bidding war in the US, Zaffre Books know they're onto a very good thing. The Queen is disconcerted to spot one of her favourite paintings - and one that belongs to her - at an exhibition of maritime art in Portsmouth. The painting, which Phillip describes as “ghastly”, is of the retired Britannia yacht and once hung outside her bedroom. Positive it is the original she enlists Rozie to discover when it left her collection and why it has never been returned. This turns out to be anything but the simple task that it sounds but when the dead body of an unpopular elderly housekeeper is found beside the Palace swimming pool it slips down the priority list. With the jury out on whether the death of the housekeeper was an unfortunate accident or cold-blooded murder, rumours amongst the royal household staff go into overdrive. When the Queen asks Rozie about the victim and discovers that she was the target of a sustained campaign of poison pen letters it brings several concerning revelations to light, with the Queen discovering that there is a lot more going on below stairs than she could ever have imagined. Needless to say it gets extremely convoluted and I was no more invested in this string of crimes than those in the first book. I loved the humorous elements in the book such as Prince Philip’s petn
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