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ABOUT THE BOOK
The New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie returns with a thrilling story of Christie’s legendary rival Dorothy Sayers, the race to solve a murder, and the power of friendship among women.
London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second-class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment. May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter that seems to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden. Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.
OPENING LINES
“None of us is as we appear, I think as I watch the woman enter the marble-trimmed lobby of Brown’s Hotel.”
GUEST REVIEW by Sophia Rose
When British “Golden Age of Mystery” greats like Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, and Baroness Orcszy are all in the same book and will be solving a crime together, I found that well-nigh irresistible. Marie Benedict has established herself among the best historical fiction writers for her focus on women’s history and writing a strong female protagonist. In The Queens of Crime, she takes that to another level with the story of five famous, talented women.
Told from the perspective of Dorothy Sayers, The Queens of Crime begins when Dorothy recruits the shy, reclusive Agatha Christie to help her save their newly formed Detection Club from becoming a males-only establishment. I enjoyed the focus being on this diverse group of five women with their own styles and personal lives. I was only really familiar with Christie’s private life, so I enjoyed getting to know all of them better and seeing the disparate women join in a common cause to solve a murder and become respected friends.
This was my first Marie Benedict book, and I had no trouble sinking into her writing and the glitzy, sometimes gritty, era and its famous writers. The novel had the advantage of being based on part of Dorothy Sayers’ life. I was captivated by the clever mystery wrapped in this character-driven story. If you enjoy real-life characters in your fiction, tag The Queens of Crime for your next read.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years of experience as a litigator at two of the country's premier law firms. She found her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex, and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of the present day, where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern-day issues. She is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Mitford Affair, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, The Only Woman in the Room, Lady Clementine, Carnegie's Maid, The Other Einstein, and the novella, Agent 355. With Victoria Christopher Murray, she co-wrote the Good Morning America Book Club pick The Personal Librarian and the Target Book of the Year The First Ladies. Her books have been translated into thirty languages and selected for the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Target Book Club, Costco Book Club, Indie Next List, and LibraryReads List. Up next is the February 11, 2025 release, The Queens of Crime, the thrilling story of Agatha Christie’s legendary rival, mystery writer Dorothy Sayers, the race to solve a real-life murder, and the power of friendship among women. In April, her first children’s book will released, a middle-grade historical adventure co-written with Courtney Sheinmel called The Secrets of the Lovelace Academy. You can connect with Mary via her website.
SOPHIA ROSE, Guest Reviewer
Sophia is a quiet, curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants, and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and a loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, baseball, cats, Scooby Doo, and chocolate. As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. In 2012, she submitted her first book review and is currently an associate reviewer. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction, particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Sorry, no horror...or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Thanks for this review, Sophia Rose! I've been wanting to read a book by Marie Benedict (have been eyeing the Personal Librarian), but hey, since I'm attempting to write something like a mystery, I should certainly add this book to my list!