Book Reviews

Book Review: Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett

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.

Monthly Wrap Ups

May Wrap Up!

Happy Thursday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. I know this is a couple of days late but I haven’t been very well. But finally I can put up my May wrap up! I had a much better reading month, part of this was because I took part in the 48 hour readathon hosted by Becca and the Books on YouTube for which I ended up reading seven books over a weekend.

So, let’s see what I managed to read this month from my TBR:

  • The Crooked Sixpence by Jennifer Bell – I did read this! It was one of the seven books I read for the readathon, a review will be coming soon
  • The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling – another book I read as part of the readathon, review coming soon
  • Graceling by Kristen Cashore – I did not read this
  • Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – I did not read this
  • Last Chance Books by Kelsey Rodkey – I did not read this
  • Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao – I did not read this
  • A Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett – I did not read this
  • The Crowns Game by Evelyn Skye – I did not read this
  • A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross – I did not read this
  • The Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix – I did read this for the spooky book prompt of the readathon
  • A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske – I read this while on the drive up to Cardiff for a concert this month
  • The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown – I did not read this
  • Dangerous Women by Hope Adams – I started this book in May and I am currently finishing it now
  • A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz – I did read this
  • Cecily by Annie Garthwaite – I also read this
  • Queenslayer by Sebastien de Castell – and I read this

Outside of my TBR I also read Turtles All The Way Down by John Green, Newts Emerald by Garth Nix and Love Him To Death by Tanya Landman

I think I read 11 books this month which is really great and a lot better than the past few months.

That’s it for my May Wrap up, I hope you all had a good reading month. My reviews of the books that I read will be going up soon!

Monthly TBRs

May TBR!

Happy Sunday bookish people! Today is the 1st of May and I am very excited to share with you all my plans for May.

So this month is going to be another busy one I think, lots of meetings, lots of classes and a trip to Cardiff which will be fun – and will give me the travel time for reading! There is also the 48 hour bookopolothan hosted by becca and the books on youtube which I will be taking part in, last year it meant I read eight books in two days so that was fun and I’d love to try and do that again.

My books for May:

  • The Crooked Sixpence by Jennifer Bell – this is a very cute sounding middle grade that I am hoping to read early in the month
  • The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling – I love anything witchy so this already appeals to me
  • Graceling by Kristen Cashore
  • Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
  • Last Chance Books by Kelsey Rodkey
  • Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
  • A Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett
  • The Crowns Game
  • A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
  • The Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix
  • A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske
  • The Key In The Lock by Beth Underdown – I will be reading this for the short book prompt for the 48 hour challenge
  • Dangerous Women by Hope Adams
  • A Line To Kill by Anthony Horowitz
  • Cecily by Annie Garthwaite – I will be using this for the gods prompt for the 48 hour challenge because of the amount of religion in historical fiction of this period
  • Queenslayer by Sebastien de Castell – I have already started reading this one and I am loving it

I am really looking forward to getting started with these books (well technically I already have). Have you read any of these books? what did you think of them?

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 29 – 29th December – End of the Year Book Tag

Happy Wednesday bookish people! Merry Bookmas day 29! I honestly can’t believe I have made it this far and actually posted for 29 days (hopefully! as long as all these posts schedule properly).

End of the Year Book Tag!

Are there an books you started this year that you need to finish?

The Guest List by Lucy Foley and The City of Brass by S A Chakraborty

Do You Have An Autumnal Book To Transition Into The End Of The Year?

I’m going to say any contemporary book for this, I’m not sure why but I just feel that the genre of contemporary has a very Autumnal feel to it.

A New release You Are Still Waiting For?

A Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett

Three Books You Want To Read Before The End Of The Year?

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict and Murder And Mistletoe by Robin Stevens

A Book That Could Still Become Your Favourite of The Year?

Well, I am writing this at the end of November so technically any book on my December TBR but I will say Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco.

Have You Started Making Reading Plans for 2022 Yet?

Not really, I have my list of releases that I want to buy but that doesn’t mean I will read them quickly after and I always make a monthly TBR based on my TBR game so I have no idea what I may end up reading yet.

That’s it for this book tag, my final book tag of the year! I hope you all enjoyed it. What would your answers have been?