Murder at the Royal Palace

Lady Eleanor Swift #23

Verity Bright

Genre: Historical Cosy Mystery

Publisher: Bookouture

Release Date: September 30, 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 332

Lady Eleanor Swift is at Buckingham Palace to see her new husband, Detective Chief Inspector Seldon, knighted. Brimming with pride, all she can hope is that Gladstone the bulldog behaves himself in front of the king.
But the happy day is overshadowed when Dilly Dalrymple, a royal guard from the Tower of London, tragically dies. The head of the royal police asks Eleanor and Hugh to investigate – unofficially. This is her first clue that there’s more to the story…
Donning a disguise as a journalist for a well-to-do magazine, Eleanor, with butler Clifford posing as her photographer, is invited to stay in the Tower amongst the remaining guards and their families. She wasn’t expecting gossiping wives, affairs aplenty and talk of long-lost treasure! Was Dilly killed to settle an old score or was he perhaps a little too close to someone else’s wife?
But when another soldier is murdered at midnight, hours after the gates are locked, Eleanor knows she needs to keep her wits about her… And when everyone seems to have a reason to lie, can Eleanor dig up the truth before it’s her head next?

Another delightful Lady Swift murder mystery by Very Bright. This one has a deceptive title, because the story indeed starts at the Royal Palace, but most of it takes place in the Tower of London. And I simply loved the setting.

Eleanor and her trusted butler Clifford go into the Tower of London under cover after the death of a Beefeater. The death is filed as consequence of an illness, but the man’s brother is not convinced. Because of his position, he can’t expose himself or call in the police, so he asks Lady Swift and Inspector Seldon to investigate.

The setting comes to life in the vibrant descriptions, the characters, and especially the lives of people inside the Tower – basically, its own little town. There is a lot of history, a lot of legends, a lot of superstitions, too. And the ravens!!! The ravens of the Tower are centred in this story, and one of them, I suspect, will become a recurring favourite character of the series.

The murder mystery is also very clever and connected to the history of the Tower. I loved how everything revolved around the Tower itself. I did visit the Tower of London once, and that helped me visualise the setting. But even without it, I think I would breathe the atmosphere just the same.

With all this, there is a very nice balance between the mystery, the characters’ personal lives and growth, and an eye to the evolution of the series, which, I suspect, has grown a lot from the beginning.

Loved it!

Read my review of A Midwinter Murder

Hi, I’m Sarah. I write historical fantasy set in the 1920s, and I read a lot, a lot of books set in the same era. On this blog, I regularly share book reviews of novels set in the 1920s (and sometimes 1910s and 1930s). If you love this kind of setting too ➡️ Subscribe to my newsletter

Murder at the Royal Palace
Excerpt

Sir Leonard pushed his bowl away. ‘Actually, it was already too late for him when he stumbled in front of < King George in the ballroom. Which is why I’m here.’

Eleanor frowned in confusion. Seldon too. ‘If you joined us for dinner to explain to my wife that she should not feel in any way haunted by the man’s passing, I am grateful.’ His frown deepened. ‘But I have a strong feeling that is not your reason for coming?’

‘No. I actually came to speak to you, Chief Inspector Seldon,’ Sir Leonard said with a brief apologetic bob of his head to Eleanor. He scanned the room and lowered his voice. ‘His death has not been treated as suspicious. But I want you to find the necessary evidence.’

‘To prove what?’ Seldon asked.

‘That he was murdered.’

Eleanor swallowed hard. She caught Seldon scanning her face in concern. He dragged his gaze back to Sir Leonard. ‘Yet you say his death is not been treated as suspicious? Which means there are insufficient grounds for it to be investigated.’

‘Actually, there are none. Officially.’ Seldon nodded. ‘Then my answer is no.’

‘Because?’

‘Because, as you and I both know, there are official channels for such things. And even if there was a case, as the head of the royal police you can call for an investigation from within your own division. Or go directly to my superiors at Scotland Yard, if you felt it more appropriate.’

‘Neither are appropriate. Nor possible,’ Sir Leonard siad fatter-of-factly.

‘Is it because he was a member of the royal police?’ Eleanor blurted out.

‘No, he was not,’ Sir Leonard said evenly. ‘He was a Beefeater. A royal guard at the Tower of London.’

The Thursday Quotables  was originally a weekly post created by Lisa Wolf for her book blog **Bookshelf Fantasy** . It isn’t a weekly post anymore, not even for Lisa, but just like her, I still love to share my favourite reads on Thursdays and I still use the original template which included an excerpt.

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