A Three Dog Problem by S. J. Bennett (Review)

A Three Dog Problem by S. J. Bennett

Blurb

Amateur detective Queen Elizabeth II is back in this hugely entertaining follow-up to the bestseller The Windsor Knot, in which Her Majesty must determine how a missing painting is connected to the shocking death of a staff member inside Buckingham Palace.

At Buckingham Palace, the autumn of 2016 presages uncertain times. The Queen must deal with the fallout from the Brexit referendum, a new female prime minister, and a tumultuous election in the United States—yet these prove to be the least of her worries when a staff member is found dead beside the palace swimming pool. Is it truly the result of a tragic accident, as the police think, or is something more sinister going on?

Meanwhile, her assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, is on the trail of a favourite painting that once hung outside the Queen’s bedroom and appears to have been misappropriated by the Royal Navy. And a series of disturbing anonymous letters have begun circulating in the palace. The Queen’s courtiers think they have it all ‘under control’, but Her Majesty is not so sure. After all, though the staff and public may not be aware, she is the keenest sleuth among them. Sometimes, it takes a Queen’s eye to see connections where no one else can.

Review

I read the first book in this series a few years ago but for some reason I have taken ages to pick the next book up despite loving the first book. I will not be making the same mistake with the third book. 

I absolutely love the idea of this series and find the idea of the Queen being a super sleuth fantastic. I also love how this book really links in to events that were happening during the year 2016. The Queen has a new Prime minister to deal with, and it is uncertain times for Buckingham Palace the last thing the Queen needs to deal with is a dead body in the swimming pool and one of her paintings missing. 

Rozie the Queen’s assistant private secretary knows what the Queen is like and knows her ability as a secret super sleuth. Rozie is on the hunt for the missing painting but at the same time she is also picking up little clues that help the Queen build up a picture of what is exactly going on within her kingdom. 

As with the first book in the series the thing I love most about this book is the interactions the Queen and Prince Philip share. We have no idea what exactly went on between the Queen and Prince Philip behind closed doors but I can just imagine all the exchanges from this book actually happening. Each interaction made me smile and have a little giggle. Princess Anne also makes an appearance in this book which I hugely enjoyed. I also throughly enjoyed the scenes with the Queen and her dogs. 

There are some wonderful characters in this book, each with their own histories and personalities. However, the real star of the book other than the Queen is Rozie. Rozie is loyal to the Queen and to her family. She helps people and tries her best to be friends with everyone. She defends the weak and does everything she can to help the Queen keep her sleuthing secret. 

I love this book and I have bought the next book in series ready to read next month. I give this book a big 5 out of 5 Dragons.

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

SJ Bennett was born in Yorkshire, England in 1966, and lives in London. An army child, she grew up travelling around the world. Her first novel was published when she was 42, after a varied career and lots of procrastination. She is the award-winning author of several books for children and teaches and podcasts about writing.

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WWW Wednesday: 15/1/2025

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you will read next?

Hello!

I have had a fab day of teaching and reading. Wednesday is always a busy and long day but I have quite a few gaps of just half an hour which makes perfect reading time.

What I am Currently Reading

The buddy read of Unleashed is going really well and we have planned a weekend of double chapters as we are both wanting to read a bit whilst we have the extra time. I started Iron Flame this week and I can’t put it down. I have Onyx Storm preordered and I can’t wait for it to arrive.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I am absolutely loving this series. My review will be posted very soon.

What I Think I will Read Next

As usual I have no idea what mood I will be in when I choose my next book but these are high contenders.

Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Mid Week Quote: Eleanor Roosevelt

Hello!

My chosen quote today is by the American political figure, diplomat and activist Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962). She was also the longest serving first lady of the United States.

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Happy Reading

Etsy

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Top 5 Tuesday: Bookish Resolutions for 2025

Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, and now being hosted by Meeghan reads.

Hello!

Welcome to my first Top 5 Tuesday of 2025. I have already posted my goals for 2025 but I have other little resolutions for my reading this year that are good for this topic.

  1. If it isn’t fun it gets the big DNF. I’m really bad at pushing through a book that I’m not enjoying so this year I am making an effort to just give up the bad book.
  2. Don’t get overwhelmed. Last year I tried to complete too many goals and I found myself reading too many books at once which meant I took forever to just finish one book and it just stressed me out. This year I will have a daily buddy read and my main book and no more.
  3. Stop hoarding books I don’t even like. I am a terrible book hoarder and I’m quite proud of this fact but I do tend to keep books that I didn’t enjoy reading. I think I’m trying to give the books a second chance and that I will read them again and like them. This year I’m going to go through the books and get rid of the books I didn’t enjoy.
  4. Keep my bookstagram up to date. I am really good with my blogging but terrible with my bookstagram which I want to change. I love engaging with fellow bookstagrammers so I really need to make more of an effort.
  5. Read as much Tolkien as possible. Tolkien is my favourite author but I haven’t read any of his books for ages so I plan to remedy this.

Time to start the book related fun!

Happy Reading

Etsy

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Goodreads Monday: 13/1/2025

Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club.  All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have been back at school today which has been a bit of a shock to the system. I took my book to read between lessons so I did manage a little bit of reading which was nice.

My chosen book to feature this week is one that has sat on my TBR for quite a long time and I’m not sure why as I love the author.

The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales by Kate Mosse

Rooted in the elemental landscapes of Sussex, Brittany and the Languedoc, here are tales of ghosts and spirits seeking revenge, grief-stricken women and haunted men coming to terms with their destiny.

Happy Reading

Etsy

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The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. This week has been really good for reading and blogging but next week I am fully back teaching so I might not manage to be so productive with my reading.

Blog Posts

Currently Reading

My buddy read is going really well and so far I haven’t missed a day. I started Iron Flame yesterday and so far I am really enjoying it.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman (Review)

A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman

Blurb

Lynda and her teenage son Rust prepare for Christmas, hanging fairy lights and making decorations. The first door of the advent calendar is opened, but the chocolate inside tastes off. Rust receives his first Christmas card, it’s unsigned and the message is aggressive rather than festive.

The cards keep coming, one each day and each more sinister than the last, and a frightened Lynda recalls a seasonal TV show from her childhood that featured similar happenings, and while she remembers it vividly, there is no evidence that it was ever broadcast…

As their Christmas cheer is gradually poisoned, with real dead robins replacing plastic ones, the turkey rotting in the freezer and Rust becoming increasingly unwell, Lynda begins to wonder if her childhood Christmases were in fact as joy filled as she remembers…

A terrifying tale of seasonal dread from a master of horror.

Review

I picked this up on my last trip to Bath just before Christmas. I don’t usually read ghost stories but I was intrigued by the prospect of reading a Christmas ghost story and as the book was only small I thought it looked like a great little Christmas read. 

Now I will be honest at first I really thought this book was going to be a great ghost story but then it seemed to go along the lines of Lynda and her son Rust having some sort of shared hallucination which just got stranger and stranger. 

Lynda is the mother of Rust and she clearly has some mental health issues. These issues are hinted at by Rust in the book and it is clear he is used to his mother’s strange ways and moods but I do feel sorry for Rust who has had to live with this from birth. I can’t imagine Lynda being an easy mother to live with especially as Rust gets older and begins to realise his mother clearly has some problems. 

Rust is also a complicated character. Rust is at that awkward stage of being a teenager but with some childish traits and tastes still lingering. He is also obsessed with the paranormal and hosts a podcast. Rust has a mixed education of being home schooled and going to school for certain times of the year and it is clear that the isolation of being home schooled by his mother is probably not good for him. 

I’m not entirely sure on what I think about the outcome of the hauntings in this book. I have my theories but I don’t want to spoil anything. I really enjoyed this book, I loved the descriptions of the house and the Christmas decorations. I loved the character of Rust but I wasn’t that keen on Lynda but I suspect I wasn’t meant to really like her that much. This was a great little ghost story and one that I couldn’t put down. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons. 

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

An expert on horror and sci-fi cinema (his books of film criticism include Nightmare Movies and Millennium Movies), Kim Newman’s novels draw promiscuously on the tropes of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. He is complexly and irreverently referential; the Dracula sequence–Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula, Cha Cha Cha–not only portrays an alternate world in which the Count conquers Victorian Britain for a while, is the mastermind behind Germany’s air aces in World War One and survives into a jetset 1950s of paparazzi and La Dolce Vita, but does so with endless throwaway references that range from Kipling to James Bond, from Edgar Allen Poe to Patricia Highsmith. 

In horror novels such as Bad Dreams and Jago, reality turns out to be endlessly subverted by the powerfully malign. His pseudonymous novels, as Jack Yeovil, play elegant games with genre cliche–perhaps the best of these is the sword-and-sorcery novel Drachenfels which takes the prescribed formulae of the games company to whose bible it was written and make them over entirely into a Kim Newman novel.

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Friday Poetry: Susan Coolidge

Happy Friday Everyone!

My chosen poem today is by a new poet for me. Susan Coolidge is the pen name for Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (1835-1905). Coolidge was an American children’s author. 

New Every Morning

Every morn is the world made new.
You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,
Here is a beautiful hope for you, -
A hope for me and a hope for you. 

All the past things are past and over;
The tasks are done and the tears are shed.
Yesterday's errors let yesterday cover;
Yesterday's wounds, which smarted and bled,
Are healed with the healing which night has shed. 

Yesterday now is a part of forever,
Bound up in a sheaf, which God holds tight, 
With glad days, and sad days, and bad days, which never
Shall visit us more with their bloom and their blight,
Their fulness of sunshine or sorrowful. 

Let them go, since we cannot re-live them,
Cannot undo and cannot atone;
God in his mercy receive, forgive them!
Only the new days are our own;
To-day is ours, and to-day alone.

Here are the skies all burnished brightly,
Here is the spent earth all re-born,
Here are the tired limbs springing lightly
To face the sun and to share with the morn
In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn.

Every day is a fresh beginning;
Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,
And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
And puzzles forecasted and possible pain,
Take heart with the day, and begin again. 

Susan Coolidge

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (Review)

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

Blurb

IT’S THE NIGHT BEFORE HOGSWATCH AND IT’S TOO QUIET.

Where is the big jolly fat man? Why is Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho? The darkest night of the year is getting a lot darker…

Susan the gothic governess has got to sort it out by morning, otherwise there won’t be a morning. Ever again…

The 20th Discworld novel is a festive feast of darkness and Death (but with jolly robins and tinsel too).

As they say: You’d better watch out…

Review

This was a reread for me but I really wanted to read it over the Christmas period as it is one of my favourites. 

This book is a story about the nature of belief. How without belief then things don’t exist and that people have to at work belief. Oh and Death is meddling again. I love it when Death meddles in the Discworld books and that he has a thing for cats. Death is one of my favourite characters in the Discworld series so I love the books where he is one of the main characters. 

I also love Susan’s character. Sadly, we don’t see much of Susan in the Discworld series but I think she is wonderful. Susan tries so hard to be normal and the more she tries the more it all seems to go wrong. However, one thing is certain when she is told to do something she generally does the opposite and her Grandfather knows this. 

We also have the Unseen University and the wizards feature heavily in this book which always promises to be amusing. They really are like a group of naughty school boys but with much bigger waist lines and an army of servants. 

This book is the perfect festive read which includes all the necessary elements that a festive book needs. It has robins, snow, sherry, a jolly man in a red suit, chimneys, presents and of course an elf. Oh and a very naughty pig who did a very big wee. I absolutely love reading this book and I think I might make it a new Christmas tradition and read it each Christmas. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons. 

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels.

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you