Death at Windsor Castle — C.C. Benison

MURDER IN THE THRONE ROOM...

Housemaid Jane Bee's summer duties run to dusting the props for a sumptuous week of pageantry at Windsor Castle, beginning with the Investiture of new Knights of the Garter. On the very morning of the ceremony, Her Majesty calls Jane to the Throne Room to attend to a rather large stain--the blood-soaked carpet beneath the very dead Roger Pettibon, found with a ceremonial sword in his back and a Garter around his knee.

Hot-tempered Victor Fabiani, a Court painter at work on a portrait of the face that launched a billion postage stamps, confesses to the royal art curator's murder. His tale of art forgery and blackmail is plausible enough to the police, but doesn't ring true to Jane-or to Her Majesty. Dispatched on a discreet inquiry by HM herself, Jane swiftly discovers there's no shortage of motives ... or suspects. As Jane stubbornly digs for the truth, the castle's ancient battlements will witness yet more...