Category: Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Book Review

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all doing well and today I am back with a new book review. Today’s book review is for Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. As a huge fan of anything Tudor period this book had been calling to me for a long time so I’m happy that I finally read it.

Before we get into the actual review, I wanted to say there will almost definitely be some spoilers in this review so if you haven’t read the book yet and you don’t want to be spoiled I would suggest reading my review after you’ve read the book.

Okay, onto the review!

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

My Review:

Wolf Hall is the first book in a trilogy of novels set in the Tudor court at the time of Henry VIII, they are told from Thomas Cromwell’s point of view. This was one of the things that drew me to this book, most of the Tudor historical fiction I have read previously has been told from the point of view of women so I was interested to see a different perspective.

It surprised me because in the books I have read before and all the adaptations of TV, Cromwell is an interesting figure, not many of them paint him in the best light – he is cunning and ambitious etc but this book is very sympathetic to wards him and I learned a lot about the things he did for the kingdom and for his family, which may have been exaggerated for the book but I think were still things he did. It changed my perception of him.

I found this book hard to get into to begin with, it is a huge book for one thing so quite intimidating, the writing felt a bit like an essay rather than the historical fiction I usually read however once we get into the story properly I loved it. This book follows Thomas Cromwell during his childhood, with his Father who didn’t treat him very well, all the way into his service of Henry VIII, how he worked alongside Wolsey and then gained Henry’s trust and this book ends as Henry marries Anne Boleyn and they have had baby Elizabeth. I am definitely looking forward to getting stuck into the second book soon!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Have you read Wolf Hall? What did you think of it?

Book Reviews

The Tw*t Files by Dawn French Book Review

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’ll all enjoy my review of the Tw*t Files by Dawn French.

Blurb/Synopsis:
IF YOU LOVE DAWN, YOU’LL LOVE HEARING ABOUT ALL THE TIMES SHE’S BEEN A COMPLETE TWAT . . .

When I was younger I wanted to be an interesting, sophisticated, semi-heroic, multi-layered person.

BUT.

That kind of perfect is impossible. Being an actual twat is much more the real me. Sorry to boast, but I am a champion twat.

In The Twat Files I will tell you about all the times I’ve been a total and utter twat. The moments where I’ve misunderstood stuff and messed up. In my life these have been key because:

Mistakes tell us about ourselves.
Mistakes tell us about others.
Mistakes are hilarious.
Mistakes expose our flaws.
Mistakes show us ourselves honestly.
Mistakes are gloriously human.

My hope is that these stories might fire up yer engines to remind you of just what a massive twat you also are.

Let’s celebrate and revel in this most delightful of traits together.

That would be perfectly twatty.

Review:

The Tw*t Files is a fun collection of stories of all the times that Dawn French has embarrassed herself in social situations. It was particularly fun because Dawn French comes from the same area as me so a lot of the places she mentioned from when she was younger I also recognise (and a few of the scenarios she mentioned I either also have done or could definitely see myself doing).

I particularly enjoyed her story of how she was asked to take up a position at Falmouth University in Cornwall and the thing that sold it to her was she asked for a crown – and they gave her one! That is absolutely me in a nutshell.

I enjoyed my reading of this book overall, although honestly I felt that it was a few stories too long for me and I was getting a bit bored with it but the book was still good and I would still recommend it to people who enjoy non-fiction.

Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks for reading!

Book Reviews

The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer Book Review

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you my book review for The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer. I read this on a car journey up to London.

Blurb/Synopsis:

The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer is a charming cosy crime read for fans of Richard Osman and S. J. Bennett.

Retired police detective Lulu Lewis’s life changed forever when she met a street cat named Conrad. There’s something very special about Conrad, but it’s a secret she has to keep to herself.

When Lulu takes her narrowboat to Oxford, she is planning nothing more stressful than attending a friend’s birthday party. And drinking a few glasses of Chardonnay.

But a brutal murder and a daring art theft means her plans are shattered – instead she and Conrad find themselves on the trail of a killer.

A killer who may well strike again

My review:

Okay, first of all I should have read the blurb more carefully because I didn’t realise that this book was the second one in a series although after reading it I would say it works well enough as a standalone because I could understand it all fine without the set up from the first novel.

This novel follows Lulu as she attends an event at an old friend’s house, accompanied by her cat Conrad – who by the way, can talk. Once there she finds out before her arrival there had already been a break in and a murder.

I honestly thought I was going to love this book, a good cosy mystery with some intricately woven threads of a story but in my opinion that’s not what I got.
I felt that a lot of this book was very slow in pace, that does work sometimes in books but for me not in this one. It felt like there wasn’t enough going on in the plot to keep my attention. I did enjoy the premise and the middle section of the book because it picked up a bit and I did like how some of plot points linked together in surprising ways.
For me, what I disliked the most was the ending of this novel, now I’m not going to spoil anything in case you want to read this book, it used one of the devices I absolutely hate in novels and it made what was going to be a maybe 4 star read a lot lower in my rating.

Rating: 3 out of 5.
Book Reviews

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay Book Review

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.

Today I am giving you my book review on The Housekeepers by Alex Hay.

Blurb/synopsis:

On the night of London’s grandest ball, a bold group of women launches a daring revenge heist against Mayfair society.

Mrs. King is no ordinary housekeeper. Born into a world of con artists and thieves, she’s made herself respectable, running the grandest home in Mayfair. The place is packed with treasures, a glittering symbol of wealth and power, but dark secrets lurk in the shadows. When Mrs. King is suddenly dismissed from her position, she recruits an eclectic group of women to join her in revenge: A black-market queen out to settle her scores; an actress desperate for a magnificent part; a seamstress dreaming of a better life; and Mrs. King’s predecessor, with her own desire for vengeance.

My review:

This was my first book of 2024, and it was gifted to me by my Parents for Christmas and I had been highly anticipating this book since it came out.
This book follows Mrs King, a housekeeper for a wealthy family, who is fired from her job by the daughter after the Father dies. She recruits a bunch of people with different skills to infiltrate the house and plan a heist for the night of the grand ball.
I love a heist, I really love that plot in pretty much all of the books I have read it in so far. This novel took a lot of time to set up each of the characters and get you to root for them individually and a s a group which is something that I liked because it gave each of them their time to shine. Mrs King was a stand out character for me, you never truly know her motives but you know that she is desperate for something and will do anything to get it. There was one character, I won’t name them, who I felt got built up and then one plot decision ruined all of their character development for me.
I did think that the actual heist could have been done better, no offense to the author here but they took the time to introduce the characters and that meant all of the culmination happened in a short amount of pages and it wasn’t explored enough for me.

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Book Reviews

Book Review: The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you my book review for The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese, a very short romance novel that I read at the beginning of December.

He loathes the holidays. She loves them. She’s full of festive cheer. He’s brimming with Bah, Humbugs. Besides unreasonably seasonable names, the only thing Jonathan Frost and Gabriella Di Natale have in common is a healthy dose of mutual contempt. Well, that and the same place of employment at the city’s most beloved independent bookstore, Bailey’s Bookshop. But when the store’s owners confess its dire financial state, Jonathan and Gabby discover another unfortunate commonality: the imminent threat of unemployment.

With the Baileys’ requests to minimize expenses, win new customers, and make record sales dancing in their heads, Jonathan and Gabby conclude—barring a financial Christmas miracle—one of them will soon be cut from the payroll. Neither are willing to step down from their position, so they strike a bargain: whoever has more sales in December gets to stay on in the new year; the loser will resign. With a lifetime’s worth of festive tricks up her sleeve, Gabby should easily outsell her nemesis, except the unreadable Mr. Frost’s every move seems purely designed to throw her off her game.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Gabby’s deceptive ex won’t quit pursuing her, and her anonymous online friend suggests they take a break. Worst of all, as the pressure mounts to save the bookshop and her job, Gabby meets a new, tender side of Jonathan. Is this the same man she’s called her cold-hearted enemy?

Maybe he’s got a motive she just can’t figure out—or maybe Jonathan Frost isn’t as chilly as she once thought. Maybe Jonathan and Gabby already know—and love—each other in ways they never thought possible.

This is an #OwnVoices story for its portrayal of autism by an autistic author.

My Review

If you have seen most of the reviews on this blog you will know that I don’t usually pick up a romance by choice and if I do, it is unlikely I am going to enjoy it. Not because of any bad reason, just because I find them quite predictable and yes, you can say that about this book too. After all it follows the romance plot that they all do really, BUT I did enjoy this book. It was short which I think was a big help in making me enjoy it, it had a lot of plot but didn’t feel too drawn out because it was short.

I love an enemies to lovers, if I am going to read a book with romance in it then that is what I want. Give me some tension. This book had a ton of that, which I very much enjoyed. Plus it was set in a bookstore and I can relate to both the characters being desperate to keep their jobs working in the bookshop. I really can’t say much about this book without spoiling anything but if you are looking for a short, festive romance then I would recommend this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Book Reviews

Book Review: The Anne Boleyn Bible by Mickey Mayhew

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you my review for The Anne Boleyn Bible by Mickey Mayhew. As with all reviews from now on I will not be splitting the review into categories anymore, I will be giving my overall thoughts in a few paragraphs and then I will be giving one final star ratings.

Anne Boleyn sells, but she sells in segments; a biography here, a study over there on her guilt and something else yonder concerned with where she lived or what she liked to wear. This book, covering not just her life but her life onscreen, in theater, on TV and also the impact of the first black actress to play her, is the definitive, all-encompassing story of Anne Boleyn from 1501 (or thereabouts) to 2023. Having examined the ardent fandom of Anne Boleyn for his doctorate, Dr Mickey Mayhew is in a unique position to offer something new to say on this much-discussed ‘tragic’ Tudor queen and is not afraid to tackle some of the less palatable aspects of her life.

Also, this book is the first to examine with authenticity the reality of Anne’s relationship with the most important man in her life, the man whose name she repeated in comfort while facing the Swordsman of Calais on the scaffold, having spent her life promulgating his doctrine; Jesus Christ himself. As for the aforementioned executioner, Dr Mayhew’s research in Calais and Saint-Omer can now lift a lid on a few of the particulars of this elusive and yet essential figure of Anne Boleyn mythos; and yes, now he even has a name as well.

The Anne Boleyn Bible also offers a straightforward retelling of Anne’s actual historical life, albeit one that outlines an entirely fresh and empowering perspective on her rise to prominence; this is followed by a series of considered arguments on the ‘for’ and ‘against’ in regard to her guilt & execution; then her entry into popular culture, firstly in plays and masques, before she went on to headline movies, TV series, cosplay, and now, with the first black woman to portray her, model and actress Jodie Turner-Smith. This book is simply what it says on the cover – The Anne Boleyn Bible – leaving no depiction, no religious aspect, no appearance in popular culture, from The Simpsons to the West End musical ‘Six’, overlooked; likewise, Dr Mayhew also turns his trademark brand of rather wry commentary toward the vast plethora of Anne Boleyn merchandising, tourist spots, rubber ducks, beanies and the wrangling question of who was the ultimate onscreen Anne; Geneviève Bujold or Natalie Dormer?!

My Review:

Okay, where to start with this one. I have wanted this book for so long, months, and I couldn’t get my hands on it where I live until finally I got it for Christmas from my Parents. Of course, I forgot everything else I was doing and I read this book straightaway. My overall thoughts after reading was that I was disappointed. I don’t know if it was because I had hyped it up in my mind or just because I have read a lot around Anne Boleyn already, I don’t know but it was not as engaging or interesting as I thought it would be.

I found the biographical chapters, such as information about Anne’s childhood and particularly the chapters about religion and the ways she engaged with it, quite good. I thought they were interesting, there wasn’t anything really new in the chapters which was the start of the disappointment for me. Everything about the book was sold as having this new information, about her life, about her relationship with Jesus and particularly about the swordsman of Calais. I saw a lot of tweets by the author about this topic and how he had this information about the identity of the swordsman of Calais and had travelled and seen the actual sword. This is described in the book, his visit to see the sword and it details how he felt in that moment and all of that, but it covers about two pages of the book and that was it. He doesn’t go into detail about any of it.

If you are interested in reading an overview of Anne Boleyn’s life and death and you haven’t read around the subject much then you may enjoy this but as a book to add something new to the subject, I don’t think this book does that.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Book Reviews

Book Review: The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. Today I am bringing you my book review for The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis, the first in her Bronte mystery series.

It’s a new year and that means I am changing up the way I write my book reviews, let me down below what you think of this new style.

I will not be splitting my reviews up into sections anymore. I will be writing a few paragraphs of my overall thoughts about the book instead and then I will be giving an overall star rating at the end. I hope you enjoy my book review!

Before they became legendary writers, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë were detectors in this charming historical mystery…

Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson’s daughters–the Brontë sisters–learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance.

These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent “lady detectors.” Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, “detecting is reading between the lines–it’s seeing what is not there.”

As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman’s place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril…

My Review:

I have had this book sitting on my shelves for a long, long time. It has only been in the past year as I have started reading more historical mysteries that I realised how much I enjoyed them. So, finally as my last book of 2023 I read The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis.

This book captures the personalities of the three Bronte sisters extremely well, you can see the wildness of Emily and the quiet nature of Anne and the sensible longing Charlotte. I personally enjoyed the chapters written in Charlotte’s perspective the most but that makes sense considering Jane Eyre is my favourite Classic novel. I did like how the book mixed the perspectives of the sisters together, it gave each of them space to investigate on their own and discover integral information and develop their own identities within the novel.

One of the things I loved the most about this novel was the way that the mystery worked. It was a tangled web of secrets and darkness that started unfolding more and more with each turn of the page. Throughout I had my own suspicion as to who the murderer was going to be, and this was the most clever part of the novel because I was completely wrong. I could have given 100 guesses and not a single one of them would have come close to the actual ending. Normally, this kind of thing annoys me a bit, I can feel cheated as a reader sometimes if the mystery doesn’t leave you enough hints, but for this novel it really worked.

If you love historical mysteries I would highly recommend this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.
Book Reviews

Book Review: Gideon Green in Black and White by Katie Henry

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well today. Today I am bringing you my book review of Gideon Green in Black and White by Katie Henry. I was kindly sent a copy of this book by Harper Voyager quite a while ago I’m embarrassed to say but I kept putting off reading it because I was interested in the plot but it leans more Young Adult to me than Adult and I haven’t been enjoying YA mysteries as much anymore. So, I kept putting it off but finally in November I read this book and I regret putting off reading it because I enjoyed it a lot.

As usual I will be giving star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.

Gideon Green in Black and White Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Gideon Green in Black and White by Katie Henry follows a boy named Gideon, he is a high school student (right now I can’t remember what exact age he is) who before the novel begins you realise something happened where he and his best friend, Lily, are no longer speaking. Gideon has an interest in everything Noir, films, books, Detectives, everything in that genre is his passion. He even wears his trench coat to school. Then suddenly Lily turns up on his doorstep and tells him she needs his help with a mystery. That’s all I am going to tell you about the plot because I highly reccomend any mystery lovers read it and I don’t want to ruin the experience for you.

I thought this plot was very intriguing, the mystery is weaved in with a lot of other things like the backstory of the characters, high school drama and a few other themes that to be honest I wasn’t expecting to appear in this book. Overall, I liked the mystery part of it more than the inclusion of the other themes but that is my personal opinion.

Gideon Green in Black and White Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Gideon is the main character in this book and as I said above, his character is mainly defined by his love of old mysteries and black and white films but what I really liked about his character is the growth you see. As a character Gideon has a few flaws and the author does not shy away from the reader seeing them, the person who doesn’t see them is Gideon and that’s what I mean when I say growth, if you read this book you will see what I mean.

The other main character is Lily, Gideon’s ex-best friend. To me I think she could have had more character development, it’s there but it’s not as punchy as it is for Gideon and sometimes I actually forgot you were meant to be feeling things for Lily too.

Gideon Green in Black and White Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Gideon Green in Black and White Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I gave this book four stars overall because I enjoyed my reading experience. I couldn’t give it five stars because there were a few things I would change, like I said, Lily wasn’t developed as much as I would have liked her to be and there were some themes that distracted from the mystery for me in a negative way. They made sense for the plot but weren’t to my taste.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Gideon’s short-lived run as a locally-famous boy detective ended when middle school started, and everyone else–including his best friend, Lily–moved on while Gideon kept holding on to his trench coat, fedora, and his treasured film noir collection. Now, he’s sixteen and officially retired. That is, until Lily shows up suddenly at Gideon’s door, needing his help.

He might be mad at her for cutting him off with no explanation, but Gideon can’t turn down a case. As a cover, Gideon joins Lily on the school paper. Surprisingly, he finds himself warming up to the welcoming, close-knit staff . . . especially Tess, the cute, witty editor-in-chief.

But as the case gets bigger than Gideon or Lily could have anticipated, Gideon must balance his black-and-white quest for the truth with the full colours of real-life–or risk a permanent fade to black.

Book Reviews, Uncategorized

Book Review: Last Girl Breathing by Court Stevens

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you my book review for Last Girl Breathing by Court Stevens. A big thank you to Harper Collins for sending me an ARC copy of this book.

As usual I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to not include any spoilers but there may be parts that come across that way, if you prefer to read a book with no idea before going I would highly recommend reading this review after you have read the book instead.

Last Girl Breathing Plot: 4 stars

In Last Girl Breathing by Court Stevens you follow the people of a small town who are still reeling from a tragedy that happened eight years prior to the novel beginning. When a murder is committed Lucy Michaels starts investigating.

my first thought when I started reading this book was “wow, this is darker and more intense than I thought it would be” and usually that type of book doesn’t appeal to me, I prefer the cosier mystery. However, I was surprised by this book. Yes, it is dark and yes it’s got incredible twists and a very fast pace but also it felt real and I felt completely immersed in the story.
It sounds cliche to say I couldn’t put this book down but I honestly couldn’t, I read it on a car trip to wales and when I had to stop reading I couldn’t stop thinking about the book and what was happening in it. I also have to say, I did not guess the identity of the killer.

Last Girl Breathing Characters: 4 stars

The main character in this novel is Lucy Michaels, she is a young girl still struggling with the grief of losing her brother during a dam break 8 years ago. She us at the centre of this book, she knows everyone in the town and has deep connections with many of the people connected with both events. Sweat I liked most about her character was the rawness and realness behind her. She wasn’t perfect, and she didn’t pretend to be. Court Stevens wrote her as a believably flawed character and I liked that. There are many other characters in this book but I don’t want to go into discussing them here because it would definitely reveal some spoilers.

Last Girl Breathing Writing and Dialogue: 4 stars

As I said before this book fully immersed me in its story and I believe that is a testament to an excellent writer. This is the first Court Stevens book I have read but I enjoyed her balance between tension and mystery combined with building strong community connections and separating their good features from the mystery.

Last Girl Breathing Overall: 4 stars

I gave this book four stars overall because I really enjoyed this novel and it surprised me how much I enjoyed it.

Blurb/Synopsis:

When the answers to a present-day murder lie in the past, one teen girl must examine a tragic event to prevent more lives from being lost. No one expected it to rain that much. But the rain kept coming, the dam broke, and lives were lost. One was Lucy Michaels’s little brother. She was there and while she saved the lives of many young boy scouts, despite being a child herself, she couldn’t save him.

Now eight years later, Lucy is preparing to graduate from high school and compete in the air rifle competition at the Olympics when her stepbrother goes missing right before his most important football game. The search is focused on the same plot of land where her younger brother died, and she can’t help but draw parallels.

When the search for a missing person becomes a murder investigation, Lucy knows the secrets she holds about what her stepbrother was up to that day could help find the murderer. The clues quickly connect Lucy’s ex-boyfriend to the murders, but he couldn’t be guilty… could he?

Everyone involved has their own secrets and revealing hers to the wrong person could put her life—and her whole town—at risk. Last Girl Breathing is a page-turning hunt for the truth as Court Stevens once again creates nonstop suspense with characters who will break your heart.

Book Reviews

Book Review: Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a wonderful day today.

I am bringing you my book review for Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett, the third in the Queen Investigates series.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.

I hope you all enjoy! Let me know in the comments if you have read this book and what you thought of it.

Murder Most Royal Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Murder Most Royal is the third book in the Queen Investigates series of murder mystery books. In this one Queen Elizabeth II gets involved in a murder investigation after the hand of a wealthy man, known to the Queen, is found washed up on a beach.

I have read all of the books in this series so far, and I absolutely plan to continue with it, but this was probably my least favourite of them so far. The second one, A Three Dog Problem, is my favourite. I enjoy the series because of it’s unique premise but for me this one, although it threw you straight into the action with the discovery of the hand, was the most complicated and confusing. This was good in the fact that it was fun trying to work out all the threads and I’m not ashamed to admit I didn’t manage to guess what happened before it was revealed.

I liked that this book took a different route than the first two, in the first two of the series it is revealed very early on who was murdered and how but this book was more complicated because you had the who but there was no actual body.

Murder Most Royal Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

There are two main characters in this series, the first being Queen Elizabeth II and the other being her assistant Rozie.

In the first and second books Rozie is the one who the narration focuses on, she is the main investigator with some input from the Queen. However, what I liked about this third book in the series was that Rozie took a backseat on the investigation while the Queen was more actively investigating. It made the book stand out and feel fresh while still keeping the overall cosy feel of the series.

Murder Most Royal Writing and Dialogue

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Murder Most Royal Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I gave this book four stars overall because it was a very enjoyable read in a very quirky series that fits very well in the cosy crime genre.

Blurb/Synopsis:

December 2016 – A severed hand is found washed up on a beach next to the Queen’s estate at Sandringham. Elizabeth has become quite accustomed to solving even the most complex of murders. And though she quickly identifies the 70-year-old victim, Edward St Cyr, from his signet ring, the search for his killer is not so straightforward. St Cyr led an unconventional, often controversial life, making many enemies along the way in the quiet, rural world of North Norfolk, where everyone knows each other’s business.

But when a second man is found dead, and a prominent local woman is nearly killed in a hit-and-run, the mystery takes an even darker turn. With the Christmas break coming to an end, the Queen and her trusted assistant Rozie must race to discover how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Or the next victim may be found even closer to home.

Agatha Christie meets The Crown in MURDER MOST ROYAL, the much-anticipated third book in the ‘Her Majesty The Queen Investigates’ mystery series by SJ Bennett – for fans of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Agatha Christie and M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin.