Book Review
The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict
Mystery | Historical Fiction
Agatha Christie has long been one of my favourite authors. Her work evokes memories of my teen years, borrowing paperbacks from my mom’s Christie collection and trying to piece together “whodunnit” before Poirot or Miss Marple do. So, when I heard about Marie Benedict’s newest novel, The Queens of Crime, it instantly landed on the top of my TBR wishlist.
This classic feeling mystery features the golden age mystery writers Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy as they put their writing tools aside in an attempt to solve a crime of their own. Not only does the story highlight these Queens of Mystery, but the writing style and plot feel very reminiscent of those very characters’ work: clean and crisp and utterly transportive.
I’ve read several of Marie Benedict’s books in the past (including her other Agatha Christie-based novel, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie) but this is probably my new favourite book of hers. While it wasn’t a fast-paced read, it was the sort of story I had no difficulty sitting in and savouring.
As a Christie fan and a new reader of Sayers, I thoroughly enjoyed the historical tidbits and facts about these women that Benedict wove into the story. Sayers was a fascinating main character and I was inspired to pick up her first book Whose Body? as a side quest while finishing this one. I would have loved a little more insight and exploration into the characters of Marsh, Allingham, and Orczy as their characters felt a little more one-dimensional but I loved that this book highlighted women who were breaking ground in the mystery genre.
The mystery element was also very reflective of Sayers work — the final reveal was expected but emphasized the ever-building layers of detective work as the women put the pieces of the puzzle together. In this sense, the story was cozy and had all the hallmarks of a classic. I could also see the book translating really well into a TV series.
As expected, this novel has earned a permanent spot on my bookshelf next to my Christie collection and has subsequently sent me scurrying to the library to check out the work of these other classic female writers too. For fans of Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, and classic mysteries, I certainly recommend this lovely historically-set mystery that highlights five brilliant, golden-age crime Queens!
Recommended for:
Historical mystery fans who love seeing real-world women fictionalized on the page
This post contains affiliate links; as an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Finished copy of the book provided courtesy of the publisher, St. Martin’s Press. All opinions expressed are my own.
About the book:
(From the publisher): 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 is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming 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.