Death at Windsor Castle (Her Majesty Investigates Series #3)

by C. C. Benison

Overview

Housemaid Jane Bee's summer duties run to dusting the props for a week of pageantry at Windsor Castle, the Queen's favorite haunt. But the Investiture of the new Knights of the Garter ends up combining pomp with a extremely unpleasant circumstance.... Mild-mannered art curator Roger Pettibon is found dead, a ceremonial sword in his back and a Royal Garter around his knee.

The police are quick to arrest moody Court painter Victor Fabiani, at work on a portrait of the regal face that launched a billion postage stamps. But Fabiani's confession—despite its story of art forgery and blackmail—doesn't ring true to Jane. Nor to Her Majesty, who dispatches her on a discreet inquiry among the cream of society gathered for the Ascot races. And, as Jane traces the twisty lineage of more than one family, Windsor's ancient battlements witness a second death—and their second ordeal in five years, by fire and water....

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553574784
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/01/1998
Series:	Her Majesty Investigates , #3
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	4.22(w) x 6.84(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

C. C. Benison is the nom de plume of Doug Whiteway. He worked as a reporter and feature writer for the Winnipeg Free Press in the 1980s. As an independent writer, he has contributed to numerous magazines, newspapers, and corporate communications. He also writes award-winning mystery novels and lives in Winnipeg, Canada.

Editorial Reviews

...[Belongs] squarely in the tradition of the "cozy" British mystery. The violence is all off-stage, no explicit sex or gore, the characters all know each other and all have equal opportunity and motive. There is, however, a '90s edge to the tale, including hints of pedophilia — a subject definitely not within the bounds of the traditional mystery — bound up with more traditional motives like art forgery and old-fashioned jealousy.
—Over My Dead Body.com

Therese Greenwood

Canadian Jane Bee, royal housemaid and amateur sleuth, accompanies the Queen to Windsor Castle for the annual Garter Ceremony. However, the country outing proves more stressful for everyone, especially Jane, after a body is found in the throne room. Naturally, the Queen asks Jane first to clean up the room and then to find the murderer. Soon, Jane is rushing around London, talking to Scotland Yard detectives, members of the Queen's staff, painters, tabloid journalists and others as she works to solve the murder case. Along the way, she uncovers a sex scandal that the Queen would rather have left buried. As in Jane's previous outings (Death at Buckingham Palace), the details of the royal lifestyle are vivid, but the plot is too tangled and wearisome to hold most readers' attention. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly