The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne Limoncelli is an old fashioned mystery set in 1938 England, and featuring the four most successful female mystery authors of the time (Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. sayers, and Margery Allingham) as fictional characters.

The four authors have been asked to cohost a charity gala at the country home of Sir Henry Heathcote, Baronet. The four authors are suddenly thrust into a real life mystery when Sir Henry is found dead the next morning.

One thing readers may appreciate is the character list at the beginning of the book. It can be useful as there are quite a few characters to keep track of, and in the beginning, it can get confusing.

The point of view alternates between several characters , including each of the four famous authors and Detective Chief Inspector Lilian Wyles of Scotland Yard CID. It was interesting seeing the thoughts of each of the characters, and how they approached investigating this real life mystery.

I enjoyed the book, but that enjoyment was tempered with a bit of annoyance that the author obviously did not do any research into proper forms of address for the British nobility. Throughout the book, the author incorrectly used the wrong form of address for characters, and worst of all wasn’t even consistent in doing so. This was an advance copy, so I hope this is addressed before publication.

If you can ignore those issues, the story was an interesting one and I recommend it to lovers of a good old fashioned mystery.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The four Queens of crime: Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngiao Marsh attend a gala fundraiser where many high society folks are attending. The evening is enjoyable until the morning comes when the host, Sir Henry, is found dead in his library, poisoned by a cigar. The four Queens of Crime help solve the crime alongside the first female DCI Lilian Wyles.

This was the second book I’ve read recently involving the four Queens of crime and I happen to like the other book better. This one was fine, but it got a little repetitive when the detectives interviewed each guest from the party, and there were a lot of guests. I liked that the book was based on real people, but I found the story to be a little tedious at times. I almost think this would have been a good audiobook since there were so many characters. I think this book focused a bit more on Lilian than on the mystery writers so maybe the title should have been called something else.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngiao Marsh, the four reigning queens of the golden age of detective fiction, meet at a sumptuos country house for a fundraiser as the specter of Hitler and war loom over Britain. Of course, on the night of the fundraising ball, a murder is committed. When DCI Lilian Wyles arrives from London, she must solve a crime with too many motives and not enough clues. Luckily, she has four brilliant and observant minds on hand to help her get to the bottom of it. Tha author has managed to do justice to her incredible cast of characters. Fantastic.

Having the memory of the Great War only years earlier and the shadow of Hitler’s Nazi propaganda looming on the horizon, Scotland Yard is summoned to solve the murder of Sir Henry after a gala benefit at his home. There are no shortage of suspects or motives so it is convenient to have 4 of the best known English crime novelists at the time present as guests. This is a very well plotted novel with multiple interesting characters but the author always managed enough clues so I could keep them straight. I enjoyed guessing about who the murderer was along with the 2 Scotland Yard detectives. Quite an enjoyable read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books/Quick Brown Fox and Company for the ARC to read and review.

I found this book quite tedious. The premise was exciting and I hoped that it would be a page turner but was sadly disappointed. I found that constantly calling the authors by their full names and making mention of their profession was annoying after the first introduction of them.

Once we got down to individual interviews the book became repetitive and little was added that helped the story along. The pacing is all over the place and didn’t help with the flow of the book.

The title of this book initially caught my attention The Four Queens Of Crime sounds fantastic. Agatha Christie, Dorothy L.Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham are hosting a gala to raise money for the Women's volunteer service the gala is a success but Sir Henry is dead.

I wished there had been more of the Four Queens but Lilian made up for it. She was a headstrong character and I could just see her in her own little murder mystery series.

A great cosy crime 3.5 stars 🌟

I started this book a number of times and put it down. I’m not sure if it was the concept, the initial chapter or what but I kept seeing positive reviews and I was glad I started it for a fourth and final time. Once I got past the first chapter my interest increased. The story is less about the detectives but in a matter of speaking how it’s always important to be aware and trust your instincts and to question your instincts. A most enjoyable read.

This is the second novel I've read in the past couple of months that features a fictionalized rendering of the women of the Golden Age of detective novels as amateur sleuths. Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh have been invited as guests of honor to an event at a country manor. When a member of the family is found murdered, the four women team up with one of the first female Scotland Yard detectives to solve the case. This novel reads like a Christie or Marsh manor house murder, and the characterizations of the four authors are distinct, whether accurate or not. And enjoyable read for fans of the classic whodunnit.

The Four Queens of Crime was definitely a fun read. The mystery is well done, but the real fun is for readers to meet and observe 4 great mystery writers of the past, who now are given the opportunity to solve a real murder. Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Dorothy Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh are 4 women writers, whose talent writing 1930s mysteries made them known as the 4 queens of mystery. All 4 writers are guests of honor at a fundraiser held at a landed estate, where a murder takes place. Since the murdered Baronet has offended everyone in his family, readers are provided with lots of suspects. DCI Lillian Wyles, who was actually a real detective at Scotland Yard, is fictionalized along with the 4 crime writing queens. The 4 queen's differing writing techniques is nicely explored, as they help the detectives solve a murder..

Author Rosanne Limoncelli is new to me, but I definitely hope that The Four Queens of Crime is only the first in a series of enjoyable mysteries to solve. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC. I definitely enjoyed The Four Queens of Crime, which presents readers with an opportunity to sit back and be entertained.

3.75 stars

It's 1938 and the four Queens of classic mysteries (Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham) have gathered at an aristocrat's estate to help sponsor a fundraiser. The four are admirers of each other's work.

No one can quite figure out why Baronet Sir Henry Heathcote has offered his mansion since he's known to be irascible and not particularly philanthropic. He manages to fight with all of his children the night of the event quite publicly. But still, no one expected his dead body to turn up the next morning.

Scotland Yard sends two detective chief inspectors including DCI Lilian Wyles, an actual historical figure who was the first woman DCI at the Yard. Her interactions with her male counterpart are interesting -- they are cordial and collaborative but they don't operate the same way. This is obviously a tricky case, involving not only a bunch of aristocrats but also the Home Secretary and four celebrity authors on the scene. Wyles is all for recruiting the authors to help ferret out information behind the scenes but her male co-worker is hesitant.

The writing is well done with lots of (speculative) interaction among the authors, with the servants, and within the family. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Before reading this book, I hadn’t realised that the ‘four queens of crime’ were contemporaneous. But researching the birth and death dates of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy L Sayers were indeed writing at the same time! I’ve no idea if they ever all met up, but if they did it wouldn’t be a huge leap to have them solving crimes.

I do hope Rosanne Limoncelli continues with this theme as this was a very enjoyable read. There are clues and red herrings. There is a female detective in an era when they were very very rare. And there are stumbles and confusions and the characterisation is first rate.

The crime writers all behave as we imagine they would. The plot involves the suspicions and family upsets as we approach the Second World War. A man is dead, and although he wasn’t a very nice man, no one will admit to his killing… add in government and the Home Secretary visiting and we have a lot to think about.

A well written, nicely paced book and I look forward to reading more by this writer.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley

The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne Limoncelli explores the lives and works of four iconic female crime writers: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham. The book provides a detailed look at their contributions to the genre, offering insights into their writing styles. Overall, it’s a one time definitely read for anyone interested in the golden age of crime fiction

I would like to thank Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. I am not a big reader of mysteries, but my late mother was and had great affection for the books of Agatha Christie. This book take 4 female mystery writers of the 1930's in England- Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Alligham, and puts them in the middle of a real life mystery. They are guests at a ball given by Sir Henry Heathcoate, as a fundraiser for the Women's Voluntary Service.It is 1938, and war is on the horizon. The citizens of England are starting to look ahead to a future war with Germany. The ball is a success as a fundraiser, however the next morning Sir Henry is dead. Scotland Yard is summoned and everyone in the house is a suspect. Well, not everyone- the 4 writers become unofficial members of the investigating team. The team includes a real life member- Lillian Wyles, the first woman to serve as a ranking officer in the Criminal Investigation Dept at Scotland Yard. It is a well written mystery, with good characters. The entire Heathcoate family , and guests under suspicion,are well crafted and , like any good mystery, all with a reason to dislike Sir Henry. It is a good read and i enjoyed it. My mother would have as well. There is a similar book that comes out in Feb., The Queens of Crime, written by Marie Benedict. I read that as well, and while there are similarities, they are very different books. I recommend both.

I love a good whodunit, and this book delivers on it! There's multiple potential suspects and you're left guessing until the end! I like the idea of integrating four of the great crime writers of the time (who also all happen to be women) into the mystery itself. I got through this book pretty quickly, which to me is always a sign that it's good!

1938 London. Lady Stella is hosting a gala to raise funds for the Womens Voluntary Service. The gala is held at the mansion of Sir Henry Heathcote. As a draw the "four queens of crime" - Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham, have been invited as special guests.

The morning after the party, Sir Henry is found dead in his library. Lilian Wyles, DCI,, takes part in the investigation and she is wise enough to call on the four authors to get their insights into the crime. Sir Henry's home is the perfect scene for the crime - lots of back stairways, several stories to the house, parts of the house geared to the public and others to only family members. Many guests and staff are interviewed and since it is a mystery, there are lots of red herrings thrown in to deter the reader from guessing whodunit.

If you're a fan of the Golden Age of Mysteries then you're sure to like this debut novel from Rosanne Limoncelli. The four queens of crime - Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayer, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh - have gathered at the home of Sir Henry Heathcote as sponsors of a ball to benefit the Womens Voluntary Service as Britain brace for the coming war with Nazi Germany. Sir Henry creates a lot of upset among his various family members and then is found murdered in a locked room - the library, of course! They are soon joined by detectives from Scotland Yard, led by DCI Richard Davidson and DCI Lilian Wylie. Through tactics employed by each of the writers in their various novels, Lilian cracks the case. Readers will expect no less and they will be delighted by the journey taken to get to the solution. I enjoyed The Four Queens of Crime immensely and mystery fans will also.

"The Four Queens of Crime" is a mystery set in 1938. Except everyone's convinced that Britain will soon go to war against Hitler. Actually, in 1938, British politicians expected to keep Britain out of Hitler's war. One character says, "Hitler's about to knock on our door and at least the Communists are on our side against him." This was before the Soviet Union was at war, let alone helping out anyone but themselves. Anyway. We see various events from the party and aftermath from the viewpoints of Agatha, Dorothy, Ngaio, Margery, a few of the servants, and the two Scotland Yard detectives. Sir Henry had arguments with every member of his family and was making business deals with known 5th columnists, so there are plenty of suspects.

The two lesbian teenagers would have had the least to complain about as it was still illegal to be openly homosexual (which is not mentioned in the book), so, duh, a Baronet would obviously object to their public display. Everyone else seemed touched by their love for each other and fully supported them. Several times, I felt like the author didn't have a good feel for the actual history of the time....though she did do some research into female cops!

As for the mystery, the four writers eavesdropped and casually asked questions and reported their discoveries to the female detective, Lilian. The detectives interviewed everyone and poked around. At the end, Lilian asked pointed questions about motives in a group setting (a sort of 'big reveal' scene), revealing the last needed clue and prompting a confession. Whodunit and why was my main suspect all along. There was no real arrest, and everyone's satisfied. Except me. I prefer actual justice served. There were only a couple of uses of bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this mystery to those intrigued by the idea of the Queens of Crime being involved a mystery.

The setting is England in 1938, a tense time, as Hitler’s Germany seems increasingly likely to start a war. As part of the readiness effort, former Member of Parliament Sir Henry Heathcote lends his Hursley House for a gala to raise money for Lady Stella Reading’s Women’s Voluntary Service. The big draw is the honorary hosts of the evening, the four most popular women then writing crime fiction: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham. Sir Henry is discovered dead in his office early the next morning after smoking his traditional first cigar of the day—only this one has been dipped in cyanide.

Call in Scotland Yard, in particular its first female DCI, the real-life Lilian Wyles. Wyles thinks it makes sense to get help from the four queens, but her by-the-book partner, DCI Richard Davidson, strenuously objects to that plan. As a result, we don’t have the queens forming part of the investigation team, but instead placed off to the side, where they talk among themselves, offering up overheard tidbits to the receptive DCI Wyles, and finally providing an explanation for a cryptic clue.

There was a lot of promise in this plot setup for Golden Age of Mystery fans, but Limoncelli’s execution doesn’t live up to that promise. The book is extremely dialog heavy and repetitive. For some reason, the descriptions of each suspect’s movements are repeated two and three times, twice from group and individual interviews, and then again, at length, in the final scene. Yes, information is added to these descriptions in their later forms, but not so much that it overcomes the tediousness of the repetition. Speaking of repetition, the motives of two suspects are so similar that it made me wish for more imagination in devising them. There is also not a strong sense of time and place.

Once the book ended, it was clear to me that featuring the Queens is little more than a gimmick. They aren’t well developed as characters, and could be eliminated entirely from the book, which could be fairly easily reconstituted into a Golden Age-style police procedural featuring the two DCIs. Putting real-life mystery writers into novels as characters has become a trend in recent years, and this book jumps on that bandwagon, but without serving either the characters or the story well.

This was a fun introduction to a possible series starring the women who ruled the interwar mystery scene. If you are intrigued by the premise of seeing Allingham, Christie, Marsh, and Sayers interact, this book is definitely worth your time.

In “The Four Queens of Crime” we experience a who-done-it in a classic fashion. The twist is that 4 of the guests are Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh – the Queens of Crime – who are known for their own mystery stories.

The time is during Hitler’s reign in Germany but before the UK has entered the war. In preparation for that future possibility, Lady Stella plans a gala ball to generate donations for the Women’s Voluntary Service. The main attraction to the gathering is that the 4 Queens of Crime will be there. The ball is a huge success, but there were many tensions that the ladies picked up on. The next morning, the host, Sir Henry Heathcote is found dead. Scotland Yard is called and a team of detectives, including the first woman to receive the rank of C.I.D. (Chief Inspector Detective), arrive to solve the case.

What is truly fun about this story is that many of the people involved were actual individuals who lived during that error. The story is fictional but it’s interesting learning about them and thinking about how they would behave. The preface tells you more about the real-life situations of Lilian Wyles (CID), Dorthy Peto, Lady Stella, Sir Samuel Hoare, and of course the 4 authors.

The mystery is a satisfying one, where you are given many motives and suspects. I’m not sure a person could truly “solve” it, but you could have a good guess at the point the murderer is revealed. I found it to be engaging and kept me wanting to read.

The point of view does change a fair bit throughout the book but that is actually helpful and not confusing.

My only minor negative is that I found that we went over the timeline a lot in the book. Each time, something new was found out, and I suppose it gave a good orientation to the reader, but it also became a bit redundant. I do appreciate that it was simplified as we went on.

I liked the hit of a romance between two of the characters. I won’t say which characters, for it might be thought a spoiler.

I want to thank Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me early access to this book.

An extra note, I'm not sure the author intended this, but parts of the story had me thinking about current times. It was mentioned how good people can have their ideas and ideals twisted by clever propaganda. We have a situation now where folks are polarized, at least in the USA, based on the media they consume. I think it has led to good people making bad choices. Hopefully, this won't have the same outcome as back in 1938.