Jane Marple visits Sandringham estate

by YankeeJim | January 3, 2012 at 08:52 am

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Jane Marple stopping by

Knock, knock. Door opens at Sandringham.

BUTLER: May I ask, who are you and what is your business here?

MARPLE: Please inform the Queen that Jane Marple wishes to visit with her at her convenience.

BUTLER: Is she expecting you? Why did you bring your luggage?

MARPLE: A body was found on the grounds and I am present to add assistance as the police often need help in these difficult matters.

BUTLER: Surely you don’t expect to stay here at the Queen’s residence?

MARPLE: Well, it is several miles to town and I need to have first-hand access to the crime scene. Has the Queen been hunting of late?

BUTLER: The Queen’s business must be discussed with her.

MARPLE: That’s what I am saying. The man about the house has been accounted for as he was having splints installed. How is his majesty?

BUTLER: I am not one to gossip, madam, but he is not lost on cheer and is feeling well.

QUEEN: My goodness, I came to see who would be knocking at our door and it is you Jane. I haven’t seen you since that awful Dianna ordeal.

MARPLE: I would like to stay a short while to investigate the decaying body found by a person walking a dog nearby.

QUEEN: You are most welcome. Perhaps I could accompany you. I could drive my cart or we could take the cycle and sidecar that the Fat Ladies are storing here.

MARPLE: Oh, the Fat Ladies, have they been visiting of late?

QUEEN: They prepared a banquet for us a month ago.

MARPLE: Interesting, that was about the time the body was said to have expired. Do you have a guest list for that event and particulars?

(and so the investigation begins)

“British police investigate discovery of body on queen's estate

January 3, 2012 | 8:10 am

t walking a dog through the trees during the winter holidays, a body discovered.

A corner of Queen Elizabeth II’s country estate of Sandringham, where the British royal family traditionally spends the Christmas and New Year holidays, became a homicide crime scene Tuesday.

Police in nearby King’s Lynn, about 100 miles northeast of London, launched a murder inquiry after the discovery of the body of a woman in the woods close to Anmer, a village on the 20,000-acre area of farmland and woods owned by the royal family.

Norfolk Constabulary statements Monday and Tuesday reported that the remains were found on New Year’s Day on the royal estate's 600 acres, which are open to the public year round and used by local hikers.

Police gave no suggestion as to a possible cause or time of death and provided few details. Detective Chief Inspector Jes Fry of Norfolk police said at an on-scene news conference that the inquiry could be “complex."

"The body has been in situ for some time," he said. "The circumstances suggest this is a murder case.”

“I cannot confirm whether she was clothed because, at the moment, only my staff, the person who found the body and the person or people who put it there know that and I would like it to stay that way,” Fry told reporters. “The body was found by a dog walker and was not underground. At this stage we do not know who the victim is.”

Fry said police would be looking at missing person and cold cases nationwide. More information was expected to emerge from a postmortem and evidence from fingerprint and DNA tests.

The wooded crime scene is just three miles from the Sandringham house described by the royal website as a private holiday residence for four generations of royalty and the favorite refuge of King George V, the queen’s grandfather.

The royal family's media office said that the queen and other family members were at Sandringham over the holidays.”