Buckingham Palace Gardens By Anne Perry

The Prince of Wales has invited four business men to Buckingham Palace to discuss the possibility of a trans African railroad starting from Cape Town to Cairo. After dinner, entertainment is provided by four ladies from a local brothel. The next morning, one of the men rises early and while walking down the hall sees a closet door ajar, looks inside and discovers the body of one of the prostitutes. Her throat and belly had been slashed, a very bloody scene, indeed. The Prince is notified; the Queen is away and expected later in the week and because of where this happened, he decides to bring in “Special Services” (homeland security) to investigate rather than the police. A senior officer from Special Services and a homicide expert are dispatched to the palace. Their instructions are to solve the crime discreetly; there is to be no publicity and the culprit will not stand for a public trial he will disappear.

There are some great characters. Each of the four guests are suspect; we learn all of the baggage that they carry and how each has had dealings with one another at one time or another, some rather frightening. The two investigators follow a twisted trail with bizarre clues such as wine bottles filled with blood, broken porcelain, missing clothes. Good suspense and you might find yourself changing your mind a couple of times as to “who done it” Very entertaining story.