This closed door cozy mystery has several twists and left me guessing throughout. As an American I’ve been obsessed with the Royals as long as I can remember so I was so excited to read this one.

Chris McGeorge has written an alternate history whereby Edward VII didn’t abdicate and there are a totally new set of royals who are celebrating Christmas at Balmoral. A blizzard moves in and they’re stranded there.

~King Eric, beloved and respected and intending to announce his successor in his annual Christmas speech. As he is making his toast he dies after taking a sip of his whiskey.
~Marjorie, Princess Royal- never named Queen and a bit of a lush
~Emmeline, older by a few minutes and engaged but her fiancé Anton was not invited to celebrate at Balmoral
~Maud, the younger twin- married to a commoner and mother to two boys
~Thomas, who the family believes is leaking info to the tv show “Monarch” (think The Crown)
~Matthew, the likely successor
~Martin, the little helper

King Eric has sent everyone else away from Balmoral for the weekend except for
~Tony, the security guard, and
~Jon, the personal chef who is devoted to the royal family and is our narrator. The family elects Jon to be the investigator in the death of King Eric.


The beginning moved a bit slowly for me but then picked up and the pace was great. Each chapter begins to delve into each character as Jon interviews them and in the last half I didn’t want to stop reading. Amazing twists and so timely! It’s The Crown meets Clue meets Agatha Christie.

Thanks to NetGalley and GP Putnam for the early review copy!