I’ve read a couple of the other books in this series (though not in order), so I came in with a good idea of what to expect. The story highlights interpersonal interactions with the mystery serving as a framework to hang them on. As before, I wasn’t keen on the frequent changes in perspective, some of which felt shoehorned in to create “artificial tension.” This isn’t a book I would read more than once, but it was a pleasant enough way to spend an evening.

It is 2016 and the ninety-year-old queen is spending Christmas in Sandringham with her family. The holidays begin inauspiciously when both Her Majesty and Prince Philip come down with colds and the flu. It gets even worse when a girl finds a hand on a beach near the royal residence and the Queen recognizes the signet ring on the hand's finger.

Her Majesty calls on her Assistant Personal Secretary Rozie Oshodi to investigate what happened to Ned St. Cyr. The St. Cyrs have long been close to the Royal Family and Her Majesty recalls many happy times with them over the years though they have been seen less frequently in royal circles since the older generation of St. Cyrs passed away.

Adding to the disappearance of Ned is a hit-and-run accident which gravely injured Judy Raspberry who is a long-time neighbor and the treasurer of the local Women's Institute. She might have been investigating odd occurrences on the same beach where the hand was found. Adding also is the suicide of one of St. Cyr's elderly tenants which takes away one of Her Majesty's sources of information about long held secrets.

I enjoyed this fictional look inside the Royal Family. I liked the way the Queen inserts herself into the investigation while maintaining her distance. I liked the look back at the political events of 2016 with both Brexit and Trump taking place in the background of the Royal's Christmas.

Rozie Oshodi is a great character too with her loyalty to the Queen and skills as an investigator. ( )

the third entry in the series feature HM the Queen as an amateur detective, working through her Assistant Private Secretary is set at Sandringham at Christmas. A severed hand is washed up on the beach and the Queen identified the likely victim as Ned St Cyr. The family hold lands in the vicinity and there is a family friendship. The case is complicated by the friendship and the rules of inheritance while it takes on a darker hue than previous books in the motive. Rozie discovers the joy of wild swimming as part of her investigation, dedicating herself to the cause so much as to immerse herself in a Norfolk river in January - brrrr!
It's an affectionate portrait of a missed monarch. ( )

I've enjoyed the other books in this series but the Christmas mystery fell flat for me. I am here mostly for Rozie the private secretary and the Queen is just a bonus feature. I didn't want to spend time with the extended royal family. The central mystery was OK but not my favorite. ( )

Christmas at Sandringham. Queen Elizabeth, along with her personal secretary Rozie, delve into the mystery of the disappearance and murder of an old family friend after his hand is found washed ashore. Sandringham is a great setting for this, and the holiday time enable cameos by many members of the royal family. It's interesting how the queen can be both seen and unseen when necessary and how royal bloodlines work their way into the eventual solution. ( )