Description
Detective Superintendent Roy Grace fans will be pleasantly surprised by this, the latest mystery of the series. Author Peter James provides an accurate depiction of the workings of Buckingham Palace. James posts a reader advisory that Queen Camilla and King Charles are featured players; however, their dialogues are inventions of the author. The plot is fashioned like an Agatha Christie mystery.
Queen Camilla is travelling by the Royal Train to an event in Brighton, the first stop on her busy schedule. The train driver, Stan Briggs, is a seasoned veteran, but this is his first time driving the Royal Train, and there’s royalty aboard.
The train will pass through three long tunnels. Following an emergency alert, Briggs has just seconds to avoid a collision with debris on the tracks inside the Clayton Tunnel. Chaos ensues and violence follows. From this point forward, the plot continues with remarkable attention to accuracy. Readers will feel as though they have gone behind the scenes in the Palace and observed key members of the Royal Household staff.
The Hawk is Dead is 448 pages, driven by the nimble mind of Roy Grace. Maps and an illustration are a bonus.