I am a tremendous fan of Marie Benedict, always eager to get my paws on her latest novel about a "forgotten" woman in history. This one was a little different, in that instead of focusing on one woman's story, it features a group of them - and within a much shorter timeframe. I enjoyed getting to know these female writers of Golden Age Mysteries, a couple of whom were brand new to me, and I loved the way they approached solving a real life mystery using their writing/fictional detectives' techniques. This story has some heart-wrenching, difficult moments, but is handled with care. It's as much an homage to detective stories as it is a commentary on society.

I've always been a fan of Marie Benedict, so let me add my thank you to Net Galley & Marie Benedict up front for this advanced copy!
While you don't need to have read The Mysterious Mrs Christie (Benedict's last book) to read this one, you might find it extra- interesting if you have. Mrs Christie (the famous Agatha) is one of the Queens of Crime, a group of female mystery writers. The protagonist for this book, however, is Dorothy Sayers. In an effort to get more respect for female crime writers, she and her friends attempt to solve a real life murder of a young nurse. As always in Benedict's book, each character is fleshed out & compelling, & the mystery unfolded well. I definitely found myself wanting to read books by each of the Queens of Crime, too! This is great for a fan of mysteries or historical fiction.

Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers have helped found the (real-life) Detection Club, but are dismayed to realize that they are the only two women in the organization. They contrive to get Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy into the group as well, but the women are still ignored by the rest of the members. Looking for a way to garner the attention they feel they deserve, they decide to solve a real-life, cold case murder on their own.

Set in 1931, this book bounces between events in France and in England, but it was pretty easy to keep it all straight. I loved the way the ladies worked together on the case, picking up on clues even the police missed and making connections that hadn't previously been considered. None of them told their spouses/families what they were doing, and when Agatha's husband commented that they were meeting frequently and wondered if the five women were collaborating on a book, I thought "Wouldn't that have been marvelous?!"

Mostly because they were working on a cold case, there weren't a lot of suspects to consider at first, but as their investigation continued, several names were added to the list. I kept changing my mind about who the culprit was, but didn't nail it down until just before it was revealed in the book. The motive made sense for that character, but I didn't figure that out either.

I was given an ARC of both the ebook and the digital audio version of this book, but I focused primarily on the audio. The narrator did an excellent job with the storytelling and the pacing, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys audiobooks and books by Ms. Benedict.

Five women crime mystery writers team up in 1930 to solve the murder of a young British woman whose body was discovered in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France while on a short visit there. Both British and French authorities don’t give the case much attention and are rather dismissive, which make the five women crime writers all the more determined to pursue their investigation and see that justice is served for May Daniels. I found this to be a slow-paced book and kept hoping it would move along with a bit more excitement. I much preferred another book by the author - The Personal Librarian - than this one. Overall this was an average read for me. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book is inspired by a true story in Dorothy Sayers life. In London in 1930, the five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society within the legendary Detection Club, aiming to show the men in the club that they are no longer willing to be treated as second class citizens. Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. dub themselves The Queens Of Crime. They decide to solve a real life murder mystery, 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. 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. So how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing?

I always love this author's books. This one was a lot of fun. Agatha Christie has always been one of my favorite mystery writers, and I loved seeing her in action with four other legends. It was like Miss Marple had come to life! This mystery will keep you guessing until the very end, and you will have a great time, trying to solve it along with the crème de la crème of female mystery writers. I highly recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. This one didn’t quite intrigue me like other Benedict novels. I did enjoy it but I felt like something was missing….can’t quite place it. I did like the wittiness of the 5 main characters. Seems like it could have wrapped up sooner in my opinion but it was worth finishing.

If you love historical fiction + Agatha Christie, then you get the best of both worlds with @authormariebenedict ‘s upcoming new release, THE QUEENS OF CRIME, out February 11, 2025. Thank you @stmartinspress and @macmillan.audio for my early reading and listening copies!

The audio narration is well done! I highly recommend, if you are busy and looking for a great historical fiction story with a cast of female leads, grab this one, your airpods, and cue it up!

I loved this story- it has a group of women who set out to solve the mystery of a young girl’s death in France after the police give a decidedly half-hearted effort. There’s mystery, intrigue, peril (but not too much!) and a club of mystery writers!

This club is where we meet several of the historically accurate members and even includes Agatha Christie- loved learning more about this time period, these women and the mystery they delve into. Of course, as always, listen to the author’s note AFTER you’ve read the novel.

I enjoyed this semi-cozy mystery with female writers at its heart. The murder of a young nurse, May Daniels, remained unsolved until Agatha Christie and four fellow female mystery writers band together for some serious sleuthing. As they set out to show their male counterparts they deserve a seat at the Detection Club's table, they also forge lasting friendships. I think most readers will figure out the culprits easily, but the cleverness of the ladies will keep readers turning the page.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

Marie Benedict is one of my favourite authors!! The idea of four great mystery writers coming together is ingenious. Terrific!!

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict is a captivating locked-room mystery that showcases the expertise of the genre's leading ladies. This novel is a delightful puzzle that kept me engrossed from start to finish, making it impossible to put down.

As a fan of Marie Benedict, I will pick up pretty much anything she writes (I'm still thinking about 'The Mitford Affair' at least weekly). However, I'm always excited when she tackles a subject I'm interested in or familiar with. This was the case with 'The Mystery of Mrs. Christie' and I was delighted to see Agatha make another appearance in Benedict's works. This novel primarily centers around another famous mystery writer, Dorthy Sayers, and her efforts to install more women in the Detection Club, to do so, 5 'Queens of Crime' work together to solve an unsolved murder.

Benedict tackles themes of class and gender in post-WWI Europe. I did note she focused most on 2 of the 'Queens' (Sayers and Christie) but I hope maybe she'll visit the other 'Queens' in more detail at a later date.

Thank you to Marie Benedict and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for a honest review of 'Queens of Crime."

🩸 BOOK / REVIEW 👩

I am not sure what happened here, but I'm ripping off the bandaid.

Y'all ... I did not love this book. Thank you so much for my #gifted #audiobook @macmillan.audio. I thought the production of this was incredible, but I found myself pretty bored with the overall storyline.

What I did love was how Benedict brought together 5 insanely cool and powerful women to drive this story along. My favorite part was how getting to know these authors in a different light, written by a phenomenal author.

I just wanted more from the plot. Not sure what I was expecting, but May's death and the investigation just didn't hold my interest. I know this book will be super popular with other influencers, but just not for me!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed reading The Queens of Crime, by Marie Benedict, whose previous novels are favorites of mine. The Queens are 5 women writers from the Golden Age of Mystery Writers: Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Baroness Emma Orczy, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham. Because they are dismissed by male mystery writers as just women and thus insignificant, these 5 women decide to use what they know about writing detective fiction to solve a real murder, one that the p0lice have no real interest in solving.

The 5 Queens decide to focus on the disappearance and subsequent murder of May Daniels, a British nurse, who was murdered in Boulogne, France, while there only a few hours. The Queens of Crime begin interviewing people in Boulogne, London, and Birmingham. In part because they are women, the Queens are able to successfully interview witnesses the police barely examined. These 5 mystery writers use their knowledge of creating characters and plots to reverse a terrible injustice. There are many details and the plot is carefully constructed. Readers will not want to rush through this novel. There is a lot to unpack.

I would read this novel a second time. It was that terrific a novel. Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC, in exchange for my honest review. My comments do reflect my personal appreciation of The Queens of Crime.

Marie Benedict has done it again...a well-researched fictional account surrounding many factual events within. Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie round out the Queens of Crime...an unlikely (of course because they were all female) group of British mystery writers in 1930's London. This was a fun foray into the ins and outs of a group meeting to discuss events of an actual murder that had taken place. The ill effects of living in a male-dominated world leaving them often overlooked and underestimated, actually helped these crime-solvers in some ways during this investigation as they were able to pay attention and go where no one thought they were a threat.
The twists and turns of this story were well-executed and the pace was constant throughout.
I liked learning more about these prolific writers of their day and would love to see this as a series!
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC. All opinions are mine.

This mystery featuring the Golden Age mystery writers Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Baroness Orczy, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham, follows the only female members of the renowned 1930's Detection Club as they determine to solve a real-life locked-room mystery, the murder of a young English nurse in Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France. The development of the relationships amongst the group members, disparate in age and social class, as they attempt to solve the mystery, is the most interesting and engaging part of the novel. The resistance the middle-aged and elderly women encounter from the police in both countries and the socially prominent people of interest in the murder serves to bring the ill-assorted group of women closer together, and their firm friendship bonds strengthen their determination to succeed on behalf of marginalized women everywhere (including the murder victim). The actual mystery is not high in suspense but is engaging enough, more along the lines of a 'cozy' mystery than a dark thriller. The author's insight into the life and times of the first person narrator, Dorothy Sayers, and her companion writers entertains and informs the reader. Apart from some rather jarring anachronisms of speech (British characters of the 1930's using American terms and slang, which seems unlikely), the story drew me in with a believable sense of time and place, as good historical fiction should. The characters really make this story, and I was rooting for the group to succeed in proving the guilt of the perpetrator and their own abilities in detection.

DNF

I was expecting something more stylish and retro, not focused on real murders, a genre I really dislike. I don't be reviewing it as this was not the type of book I read.

Based on a real story from Dorothy L. Sayers' life, The Queens of Crime offers a delightful twist on the classic mystery novel. The story brings together five iconic female mystery writers—Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Baroness Emma Orczy, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh—who band together to form a group aptly named The Queens of Crime. Their initial goal is to solve a real-life murder and prove to the male members of the newly formed Detection Club that women writers are just as capable as their male counterparts.
However, as they delve into the mysterious death of young nurse May Daniels, their mission transforms from a bid for recognition to a genuine pursuit of justice. Along the way, the women discover that crafting fictional detectives is far easier than confronting real-life criminals. With engaging characters and a clever plot, this novel is a must-read for mystery lovers and fans of these legendary authors.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this digital e-arc.*

A wonderful historical fiction that follows 1930's mystery writers solving a murder and righting wrongs!

A we quick read, keeps the readers interest and takes them through the wiles of British writing royalty. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Marie Benedict for allowing me the chance to read this work in exchange for a fair review.
February. 1931 authors Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie are having tea and discussing the plans to start an all female mystery writers Detection Club. Emma Orczy, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham, all published authors, are asked to join.
The current all male Detection is hesitant to let them join so the ladies decide that they need to solve a real life cold case. In the weeks to come they settle on the suspicious death of Mary Daniel’s a British nurse found dead in France.
We follow the “Queens of Crime”, as they’ve called themselves, while they investigate on both sides of the English Channel. They find themselves in precarious predicaments as well as learning a few things about each other and themselves. In a time where women, no matter how famous, find they are still treated as less than.
I rate The Queens of Crime 3⭐️’s.

This was a fun twist on a mystery that follows some of the most beloved British female mystery writers back in 1930 England. We follow along as they try and solve a real murder, that occurred in France, in the hopes of gaining the respect they deserve from the male writers in their detective club.

I enjoyed the fun way this mixed historical fiction with mystery. The characters used their own way of story telling to suss out the clues and find answers to a murder that no one else was able to solve. It was very enjoyable being a part of this team and watching them work. There are five popular writers in the group but I’ve actually only read Agatha Christie so this put the others on my radar and I have plans to read at least something from each of them in the new year.

Thanks to @macmillan.audio for the alc via Netgalley, this was a fun one to listen to!

Rating: 4/5⭐️
Pub day: February 11