S.J. Bennett. The Windsor Knot. USA: William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2021.
Queen Elizabeth II is an amazing woman and we, her subjects, see only the regal public side of her. Bennett skilfully blends known aspects of the Queen’s personality with a quite plausible plot. We go back to 2016 when Philip was alive; a private “dine and sleep” party for friends and a few others at Windsor has resulted in the overnight death of young Brodsky, a pianist who’d been part of the entertainment. His death occurred in his room by hanging, as if suicide, but in a very compromising position. Police commissioner Singh and Gavin Humphreys of MI5 say it’s murder, believing the man had sinister Russian connections within the castle. Elizabeth knows it was murder—she figured it out first.
On the same evening, the castle’s governor was hosting a small group of experts on international politics; the group unexpectedly was required to sleep there that night. Privately, Elizabeth refuses to believe in Russian involvement or that the killer could be a “sleeper” among her staff. Her beloved Windsor Castle must not be besmirched. She sets her finely tuned mind to solving this one secretly and let others take credit; no one must know that she has solved mysteries all her life. Her new assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshiba, is Elizabeth’s main boots on the ground; Billy MacLachlan, retired from her protection team, is another. They are digging into Brodsky’s friends and extended relationships as well as those of the partygoers. Rozie is a trained combat soldier, luckily saving her from an attack by someone aware/afraid of her meddling. More people will die.
Integrating fictional with true figures and events, Bennett brings an absorbing story to full-blown life. Every interaction among the characters seems so natural and right. Elizabeth is diplomacy itself, putting the right word in the right ear to change direction of the investigation. Even so, security agents at the castle apparently do not catch every mischief going on among hundreds of overnight guests and staff. Besides the puzzling crime itself, most readers will find the details of the royal household operation highly interesting. One has no doubt that HM’s natural instincts and sharp mind are a great gift, that in real life she can manage any situation with the greatest aplomb. A very appealing “cozy.” With horses!
One-liners
▪ “Last thing you want is to be discovered in a royal palace with your goolies out.” (16)
▪ “We discovered he was the brains behind an anonymous blog attacking Putin’s Russia.” (42)
▪ “And apparently there was this dishy young Russian who danced with all the ladies.” (66-7)
▪ The Queen put her thoughts about the investigation to one side and focused on the job, which was to be herself in public, and which it took a lifetime to learn. (156)
▪ “She didn’t know she’d be sleeping over until late afternoon, so she could hardly have planned to kill anyone.” (159)
▪ “He won’t tell me a thing because of course Humphreys thinks we’re all working for the Kremlin.” (233)
Multi-liners
▪ Perhaps he meant to save himself and then couldn’t. How awful. (25)
▪ “We became absolutely intertwined. You get very physical with the tango; together and apart.” (91)
▪ “He said, ‘You can get me up there, to her bedroom, I know you can. Make it happen.’ And I did.” (98)
▪ It couldn’t be part of a long-running feud, as Brodsky didn’t know anyone here. Nor did it seem likely to be based on sex. The young man had had enough of that downstairs and there were only so many unorthodox lovers one could take at Windsor Castle in one night. (111)
▪ “We’ve established that a visitor to the castle that night was an imposter. It was the governor who spotted it.” (211)
The private secretary et al
“But he trusts her totally!”
“No, he doesn’t. He thinks he does, but he also thinks he knows best. All her private secretaries do. They always have. They think they’re brilliant, which to be fair they usually are, and they think the other men in their clubs are brilliant, and the heads of the big organizations who went to Oxbridge with them are brilliant, and they’re all being brilliant together and she should just sit there and be grateful.”
Rosie laughed out loud. She was really very fond of Sir Simon, but this described his style exactly/ “OK,” she agreed.
“They should trust her. She’s one of the most powerful women in the world, supposedly, but she spends her whole bloody time having to listen to them and they don’t listen back. It drivers her bonkers. I mean, she grew up with it. She was a girl in the thirties; male domination was normal. God, even now I bet you get it, too, but at least we know it’s wrong. She’s had to work out for herself how good she is, what she can do. And what she can do is notice things. See when something’s off. Find out why. Unpick the problem. She’s a bit of a genius at it, actually. But she needs help.” (78)
Our man in Africa
“Kelvin Lo is interested in their financing of new ports in developing countries. He’s concerned about the effect it will have on their naval capacity. You don’t think about China being a naval power, do you? But more than that, he’s concerned they’re deliberately driving some of these countries into debt on these port facilities, so they essentially have a string of indentured bases around the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific.”
“Rather the way we did in the nineteenth century,” Sir Simon mused. (232-3)
Lisa Barr. Woman on Fire. Ebook download from TPL. USA: HarperCollins, 2022.
That the Nazis stole thousands of art works from their victims is now well-known; some families continue today, attempting to locate and reclaim them. None of it is easy with endless disputes, red tape, and international bureaucracies. Barr creates her fictional characters and thriller-plot based on expert research, as an example of the complications. A brilliant painting called Woman on Fire disappeared as the Second World War began; two separate people believe it belongs to them. But from whom it disappeared is only the first question in tracing its multiple-step provenance and current whereabouts.
Ellis Baum is a celebrity businessman (think John Fluevog) whose mother was the painter’s model; it is the sole memento of his beloved parent. Margaux de Laurent is an aggressive gallery owner whose grandfather once owned the painting; she’s not averse to undertaking a bold heist when the opportunity arises. Enter investigative journalist Dan Mansfield, hired by Ellis. Jules Roth is his eager assistant—the person who ultimately leads the charge as the hunt turns more and more dangerous. Ellis’ charming grandson Adam is a phenomenal artist who’s had history with Margaux, professional and otherwise. He and Jules experience instant chemistry. Margaux, who manages to conceal her over-the-top psychopathic nature when necessary, will stop at nothing to obtain the painting and wreak revenge on the others.
Holocaust memories, high society, and lowest of motives: It’s a wild pursuit of clues back and forth between the U.S. and Europe at a fast clip. Small quibbles: the repetitive listings of famous painters’ names, as if we will forget the importance of it all; again, the masculine names for women (Jules—after the recent Alex and Sloane); and seriously, would any Frenchman worth his truffles name his daughter after an eminent wine estate? What’s wrong with Margot?!
Margaux
▪ Margaux’s goal is not just to sell her artists’ work but, more importantly, to elevate her brand and eclipse her competitors. (8)
▪ Her father squandered nearly everything her grandfather spent his entire life building and nurturing, her legacy. (75)
▪ She pays him an obscene amount of money for his exclusive services, his loyalty, his secrecy, his cunning, and, most of all, his disdain of humanity. (77)
▪ Adam’s work was so original, awe-inspiring, and socially relevant that it quickly propelled her back on top. (260)
▪ “Well, they certainly didn’t kill themselves.” Margaux is enjoying this. (324)
Jules
▪ Jules’ face burns, yet her hands are cold, as though her body temperature is malfunctioning, realizing that she is the one who has been played. (12)
▪ What am I even investigating here? A stolen painting? Dan’s murder? A criminal art dealer? Over a billion dollars’ worth of stolen art? Ellis Baum’s lost, messed-up family? (273)
▪ Geisler was leading Hitler’s pack of thieves, vilifying and destroying the art and artists he once fully embraced. (291)
▪ Jules turns chalk white and braces herself against the table. “No!” she screams loudly, covering her mouth. (323)
Others
▪ Dan laughs hard, and his whole cranky face lights up to reveal the existence of a younger, perhaps once-joyful man. (19)
▪ Stealing from someone who stole the art is not a crime but payback. (30)
▪ Adam had become Chelsea’s flavor of the month, and everyone wanted a piece of him. The boy had nothing left of himself. (60)
▪ “I was her possession, the masterpiece she created—a strung out art world sensation. She was my Dr. Frankenstein.” (174)
▪ He places his hand on his heart to prevent it from falling out. (371)
Nora Murphy. The Favor. USA: Minotaur/St.Martin’s Publishing Group, 2022.
Two well-to-do couples, one problem. They don’t know each other. Leah and Liam Dawson are doctors: she’s a paediatrician, he’s a psychiatrist. McKenna (not commenting on this name) and Zack Hawkins are lawyers: she works with contracts, he’s a hotshot litigator. Neither couple has children and everyone loves her/his job. It takes a while to establish that, because presently the wives are not working and unhappy about it. The point of view shifts from one woman to the other. Leah spots stranger McKenna while shopping and convinces herself they are alike with the same problem; at loose ends, Leah follows her home and takes to spying on the Hawkins home. Indeed, they do have the same problem: overbearing, controlling husbands who gradually isolate the wife. The abuse ranges from passive-aggressive and emotional to physical violence.
Leah has been relegated to their guest quarters and a home gym to get herself in shape as the wife of a prominent lawyer; she’s lost the job she loved—through Liam’s machinations, as it happens. Secret drinking is all she manages in consolation. McKenna is being pressured to get pregnant after a traumatic miscarriage; she hides birth control pills, wanting out of this marriage. Neither wants to be forced into husband’s preconceived role of the perfect wife. Both women live in fear and wonder how, despite intelligence and education, they arrived at such a point.
Zack is shot through the back of the head through an open window, after another argument with McKenna. We know who did it—Leah has been carried away with feeling McKenna’s pain as her own. Police detective Jordan Harrison investigates, but Leah has disposed of any possible evidence. When Liam is shot exactly the same way, Harrison is mystified, suspecting the wife in each case. Interviews with the women reveal no link between the similar killings because they can honestly say that they do not know each other. Yet Harrison proves to be an empathetic man; he knows the signs of abuse. This is a first-rate thriller as well as a caveat for women in similar circumstances.
Leah
▪ Strangely, the room had become both my jail and my safe place, within the house that no longer felt like home. (21)
▪ I didn’t think I’d really do it. But I did. I shot him. (81)
▪ Not only had I lost my job, suddenly, shockingly, I had lost it in a way that essentially precluded me from being able to find another one. (103)
▪ “You’ve let yourself go, Leah. I think it makes sense for both of us if you sleep there until you get yourself together.” (130)
▪ Liam moved toward the stove, serving himself dinner, as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t just pushed his wife down against it. (174)
▪ “Leah,” he said, almost pityingly, mock offended, “I’m not hiding it from you. We are married. I take care of the money. You don’t need to worry about it.” (180)
McKenna
▪ I knew they saw a tall and handsome man, well-dressed and polished and successful. But when I looked at him, all I saw was danger. (17)
▪ He was encasing me in a bubble of isolation. It was quite methodical and comprehensive. (31)
▪ I let myself cry. It was like a little gift. I so rarely acknowledged or felt permitted to express my feelings. (52)
▪ “Your being sorry doesn’t really help, though, does it?” (56)
▪ “This isn’t my fault,” he said. “You have done this to yourself. How could you do this to me?” (77)
▪ As I began to stand, Zack’s leg shot forward, his foot catching me just below my ribs. (79)
▪ A prepaid cell phone was always part of a plan to leave. (189)
Zack
If I did manage to leave him, Zack would make it difficult. He would fight the divorce. He would deny everything I said and refuse to settle. I knew that he would.
We’d end up in a contentious divorce trial. I’d have to sit in the witness box and tell a judge—likely a man―what I’d been through, what my relationship was like, and why I no longer wanted to be married to the charming and successful doctor sitting at the trial table beside his lawyer, not ten feet away from me. (28)
Liam
He reached inside, taking something out. When he turned around, he was holding a gun.
I had never seen a gun in person before. It looked glimmering and black and fake.
He lifted it to the side of his head.
“Liam,” I said. I could feel my body shaking. I pressed myself harder against the wall.
“I will shoot myself,” he said, his voice dripping like melting ice. “I will shoot us both if you leave me.” (139)
Detective Harrison guesses
“Maybe before he was a little bit possessive. A little bit jealous. But it was taken to an extreme. He was powerful. He was a psychiatrist. Who would believe you?”
I took a long pull of water. I was on a roll.
“You realized that you no longer wanted to have a baby. Not with him. Not with the person you now realized that he was. You started taking birth control pills in secret. Meanwhile, you were pretending that you were trying.”
The look on her face. I could tell I was dead right.
“He found the pills. He confronted you. Maybe he got violent.”
Her eyes were wide. She was scared by how much I knew.
“You escaped him. You snuck outside, and you shot him.” (244)
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