Article and Interview by Elise Cooper
The Queen Who Came in from the Cold by S. J. Bennett features Queen Elizabeth II as the protagonist and her private secretary Joan McGraw. Fans of Peter James, who’s latest The Hawk Is Dead, involves the current Queen Camilla and King Charles might also like to read this story.
This plot has Queen Elizabeth II and her personal secretary Joan involved with spies, lies, and treachery involving the KGB. The Queen, Prince Philip, and Princess Margaret are planning on taking the royal yacht to Italy. But the temporary lady-in-waiting claims she saw through the train window a dead man being tossed into a lake. The Queen and Joan decide to investigate. They discover a plot to smuggle a Russian defector aboard the Britannia while the Queen and Prince Philip are visiting Italy.
This is a cozy mystery that has intrigue and humor along with historical figures that readers get to know better.
Elise Cooper: Idea for the series?
S. J. Bennett: I was shifting from writing children’s books to crime. My father was in the army and spent a lot of time with the Queen. I ended up thinking she would make a great detective because of her curiosity about people. She had access to any expert. I decided to write a series where Queen Elizabeth II is the detective behind the scenes and lets someone else take the credit, a man who is her nemesis.
EC: Idea for this book?
SJB: This is the fifth one in the series, all written to be read as a stand-alone. I went back in time to 1961, the height of the Cold War and the Space Race. It was all very dangerous and a great time to set a mystery novel. This book starts on the royal train. An unreliable witness thinks she saw something from the train window. Later, I move to the royal yacht, the Britannia. This one is a story of spies with the Queen caught up in international intrigue and takes on the KGB.
EC: Did the title come from the James Bond movie?
SJB: John le Carre wrote The Spy Who Came in From the Cold that came out in 1963. His first book came out in 1961 and in the final pages of this book I have Prince Philip reading the book by a new author. He cannot remember the name but indeed it was John le Carre. I also have some characters reading James Bond books. President Kennedy enjoyed reading Ian Fleming so I had Prince Philip keen to read Fleming so he can chat with him when he comes over.
EC: How would you describe Queen Elizabeth II?
SJB: She was intelligent, funny, witty, curious, very warm and self-contained. She was an empathetic person.
EC: How did you get the dialogue for the Queen?
SJB: She did not talk that much conversationally in public and did not give interviews. My parents did meet her but overall, I had to imagine it. There was a time period to get her voice right. What I did do is watch old videos of the family and saw the little asides, like when she made a joke to someone. In the early books of the series I imagined her and Philip as an older couple.
EC: How would you describe Joan, the Queen’s Assistant Private Secretary?
SJB: She is an outsider who is not part of the Royal machine and has not grown up within the Royal family. She is a working-class person. She grew up in the 1930s and enjoyed working crossword puzzles with her father. She was recruited to Bletchley Park to be a code breaker. She gave a lot and was hugely instrumental in helping us win WWII. When it was over the code breaking effort was ignored and her contribution to it was also ignored. She found herself in the typing pool at Buckingham Palace. The Queen found her there. Joan has a great memory, is a linguist, and keeps a secret. She is curious, no nonsense, analytical, and courageous.
EC: Was she based on anyone?
SJB: My grandmother. She was clever, hardworking, and multitalented. She was largely underestimated growing up in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.
EC: Since the story is based on historical figures what do you want readers to get out of the story?
SJB: Of course, entertainment. But also, a sense of reassurance. The world we live in is stressful. My books allow readers to retreat for a bit. I write in the Golden Age tradition where the Queen sets the tone of being moral, serious, with a sense of justice. I like to live in a world where the people in charge are like that.
EC: The next book?
SJB: The next book is set in 1966. It is titled Deck on the Royal Yacht and will be published in October 2026. It was a big year for Britain. We had the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and was popular. The Queen has set off on a five-week tour of the Caribbean. The plot has somebody who has helped Joan out in the private office found dead of a drug overdose. Joan is a suspect because she does not like this woman very much.
EC: THANK YOU!!
