Krishna
Jane Bee, the narrator, is a maid in Sandringham House owned by the British monarch. Her family (and thus she herself) is Canadian. Her father was from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Jane found employment as a servant in the British palace and moves along with the royal family to various abodes.
In a village where she is posted, Davey, one of the employees is not well. They put it down to some food allergy or something.
But it is the same Davey who discovers, right at the moment of the Queen’s arrival, a body behind a curtain. A dead ringer for the queen! Her name is xxx
He sees Princess Margaret take the tiara off the head of the corpse. Later she learns that Margaret realized that it is an actual tiara (not a replicate) made for Wallis Simpson, and did not realize that the lady was dead.
Now Jane Bee is entrusted to the task of carrying the tiara to Cartier to confirm that ‘it is the real deal’ because Her Majesty does not think so.
So Jane Bee goes to Cartier and they were expecting her. They confirmed that it was the genuine article. She comes back knowing that the Queen had lost her bet with Princess Margaret.
This is purely a cozy mystery, wherein Her Majesty (yes, it is after Diana’s time before the coronation of King Charles) is interested in sleuthing, but Jane Bee has been her inquisitive and trusted hands and legs.
Well, this is not even the first book in the series. I read books in the order I chance upon them (through Library sales of old books and a book exchange program right near my home) but you don’t need to read them in order, luckily. All you miss in this book is the trust Her Majesty has in Jane Bee.
Meanwhile, Jane discovers that the person who died was a Queen impersonator and had gone off to America for several years before inexplicably returning to England. Besides, she is the sister of the Head of Staff for Her Majesty – Aileen. The name of the former is Jackie Scaife and the latter’s maiden name is Aileen Scaife.
Also revealed are juicy details about the strained relationship between the two. Apparently Jackie had always loose morals and was found by Aileen a day before her wedding having sex with her intended husband! But Jane wonders why Aileen continued with the plan to marry the same man after his infidelity and why when Jackie came back from America, she let her live in the same house as hers for a length of time. Is that a motive for murder? Jane’s fertile imagination runs riot.
There are also (mostly known) trivia strewn throughout. For example Queen Mary’s kleptomania and how the servants returned or reimbursed the aggrieved party clandestinely after. And how, a large carriage was sent after Queen Mary’s death with a load of items on a ‘return to owner’ trip. These do not (I think) have anything to do with the story per se, but adds a bit of colour to the narration.
However, when Jane and her RCMP father meet Pryce at the pub Jane realizes two things. Pryce first found the body but snuck away; then, there should have been a drama prop of a scepter which is a kind of a club used by fisherman (called, with reason, “priest”) and that was not found with the body. In addition, that would have made an excellent murder weapon as the victim was hit by a blunt instrument on her head, causing death.
Jane Bee finds that Jackie probably had resumed her affair with Aileen’s husband after her return.
Jane also finds the fake tiara under the bed of the rowdy Bucky. He tired unsuccessfully to force himself on her and also was prone to epileptic fits.
So it could be Aileen who quarrelled with Jackie publicly and killed Jackie in a fit of anger or it could be Buckie. It could be Pryce who ‘found the body’ but inexplicably stole away instead of making it public.
With her (Canadian) police father in the car, Jane grills Bucky about the imitation crown and he gets increasingly agitated. He gets down from the car and decides to walk home.
When Jane reaches the place, it is in darkness and when she goes in she has a premonition. So she goes silently in and walks in on Bucky and the body of Tom Benefer. Bucky claims that he did not attack Tom and found the man lying wounded when he entered.
Tom Benefer was Jackie’s sisters husband. There is a lot of guesswork about how they got killed and even Her Majesty supplies some historical details. For fear of making this very complex (yes, in a cozy mystery of this sort!) I will spare you the details.
Finally, towards the end of the book, we learn that Bucky’s mother was responsible (via an angry slap) for Bucky to get epilepsy. (You go ‘really?’ but the story takes it as a given). Also Jackie was the person blackmailing the woman. In order to get rid of her (since Jackie and her sister’s husband had been having an affair and now Jackie has come back from America and settled in the sister’s house), it was her sister who faked the animal rights threatening letters. Jackie simply laughed it off, and so there seems to have been no result of these letters.
Finally, all is revealed in a vaguely Poirot-like conference. Suspicions fall on everyone in turn – including Inspector Chris Jenkins, with reason – until the real murderer is unveiled. A satisfying cozy mystery. Not spectacular, but satisfying.
6/10
— Krishna