Jane Bee, a housemaid to Her Majesty the Queen, accompanies the Royal family on their annual Christmas jaunt to Sandringham and turns sleuth when the dead body of a woman bearing a striking resemblance to the queen is discovered.
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Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Enjoyed this book very much. Being from that part of the world originally, I enjoyed the author's use of the East Anglian vernacular. Good mystery and hard to put down.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I read this book because I thought the plot would be quite interesting. It is about the Queen, solving a murder mystery with the help of Jane Bee who is a housemaid, working for the Queen. The story takes place in the time between Christmas and New Year when the Royal family spends some time at Sandringham House. But when the body of a woman that looks exactly like the Queen is found in the village the quiet days are over. Jane who is present when the body is found is interested in the case and so is the Queen, especially because the tiara the woman is wearing had been stolen a long time ago. The Queen asks Jane to keep eyes and ears open for her and soon Jane finds out that there are many suspects. But before they can solve this mystery a second body is found. This second body gives the Queen all the clues she needed, to know who the murderer is and so on New Years Eve she is able to solve the mystery.
What I really liked about this book was the story. This book is 100% fictional and not based on a true story or the real characters but I really loved to imagine the Queen in the role of Sherlock Holmes. The story itself is not about the Queen, the heroine is Jane Bee and as the reader you'll always get her point of view and insight in her thoughts only. Till the end she doesn't know who the murderer is and so the reader doesn't know either but you can guess with her who did it.
Still I rated this book with three stars because the whole story was too fantastic to be true. To start with, the idea of the Queen, discussing a murder case with a housemaid, is very strange but without this idea there would be no story so you just have to accept it. Then many suspects talked too much and too freely about what had happened to Jane. If I were a suspect I wouldn't talk to a stranger about it at all. The suspects were another problem for me. The body was found in the village but somehow it turned out that there was a link from the dead woman to almost everyone who worked or was a guest at Sandringham House and who appeared in the book. Two of the suspects even found the body the evening before it was officially found but were too afraid to report this to the police. Last but not least, the dead woman, and please keep in mind that she looked like the Queen, is described throughout the whole book as very attractive for men. Who should believe that?
It is definitly not a book I'll read for a second time, it was not a page turner but it was not absolutly boring either. That's why I rated it somewhere in the middle. There are better books to read and if you have read all of those I would recommend you to buy this book. It's nice for entertainment but it's definitly not a must read.
By Julie
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Although I didn't enjoy this as much as "Death at Buckingham Palace", it was still alot of fun. I love all the slang! I grew up with a fair amount of British television and didn't find the slang hard to understand, but I think some would. It would be nifty if the author provided a glossary of some of the more obscure terms, which are also some of the funniest. I realize, though, that authors rarely do this. Once again, I found the characters interesting (although maybe a little less believable), the plot complex and hard-to-figure-out and the descriptions fun. I have to agree with some of the reviewers here in that I found the plot not as riveting as either of her two other works. Still, a great read!
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3.8 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best of the Three
I really enjoyed this one. I loved the winter setting in Norfolk and the descriptions of the royal get-away residence. Loved "Margo" and "Lilibet. Read more
Published on Jun 1 1999
1.0 out of 5 stars
Weak plot, relationship of Jane Bee to Queen unrealistic.
Much weaker plot than the first book in this series, which was quite "amusing." The author includes heaps of unnecessary comments, Brit jargon, meaningless yakkety-yak... Read more
Published on April 12 1999
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting locale, but the mystery didn't grab me.
I love English mysteries but this one was hard to stay with. I became more involved towards the end, but not enough to give it a good recommendation. Read more
Published on Feb 17 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
A young maid finds murder on the job.
Jane travels with the Queen to her vacation spot and is recruited by the Queen to find the murderer of a look alike woman. Read more
Published on Oct 27 1998
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as her first book--weak plot
There was a novelty when I read her first book, Death at Buckingham Palace, but I would not recommend this book to my friends, unless they are interested in British Royal family... Read more
Published on Oct 13 1998
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mystery, murder and a peek at life among the Royals
Lots of fun! Jane Bee, lowly housemaid to Queen Elizabeth, happens to be on hand when Her Majesty discovers a body - one that happens to be dressed up as the Queen, complete with... Read more
Published on Jun 12 1997
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