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Kristine 's Reviews > The Queens of Crime
The Queens of Crime
by
by
Kristine 's review
bookshelves: 2025-new-releases, country-city-london-uk, favorite-authors-new-releases, historical-fiction, mysteries-and-thrillers, ng-2025, pub-feb, arc-2025
Feb 05, 2025
bookshelves: 2025-new-releases, country-city-london-uk, favorite-authors-new-releases, historical-fiction, mysteries-and-thrillers, ng-2025, pub-feb, arc-2025
2.5 Stars
I usually really like Marie Benedict’s books as they are based on strong women characters who were ahead of their time.
Oh……..this one is slow. It was such a great premise, 5 Real Mystery Writers decide to solve an actual murder. They are Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Emma Orczy, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh. These were women that Marie Benedict continually points out struggled with sexism. I am sure this is correct and for these five women to survive and publish books they had to be intelligent, resilient, and bold. Yet, sadly that is not how they are portrayed in this book. Beyond describing meetings for high tea at restaurants, how each woman dressed, manners, and just stale discussions, I never felt I knew these striking women at all. There is no depth to their characters. The mystery of a young nurse being murdered also carries little suspense or intrigue. Dorothy Sayers narrates the book and Agatha Christie is the second biggest contributor, but think that was for her name. The other three, well I know how they dressed and if they bickered or not. That’s about all.
I have read several of Marie Benedict’s books and really enjoyed them. This one just fell flat for me. It has the making for such a great book and it honestly does not deliver. It took me two weeks to finish and usually I read one of her books in a couple of days.
Thank you NetGalley, Marie Benedict, and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book. I leave reviews for all books I read.
I usually really like Marie Benedict’s books as they are based on strong women characters who were ahead of their time.
Oh……..this one is slow. It was such a great premise, 5 Real Mystery Writers decide to solve an actual murder. They are Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Emma Orczy, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh. These were women that Marie Benedict continually points out struggled with sexism. I am sure this is correct and for these five women to survive and publish books they had to be intelligent, resilient, and bold. Yet, sadly that is not how they are portrayed in this book. Beyond describing meetings for high tea at restaurants, how each woman dressed, manners, and just stale discussions, I never felt I knew these striking women at all. There is no depth to their characters. The mystery of a young nurse being murdered also carries little suspense or intrigue. Dorothy Sayers narrates the book and Agatha Christie is the second biggest contributor, but think that was for her name. The other three, well I know how they dressed and if they bickered or not. That’s about all.
I have read several of Marie Benedict’s books and really enjoyed them. This one just fell flat for me. It has the making for such a great book and it honestly does not deliver. It took me two weeks to finish and usually I read one of her books in a couple of days.
Thank you NetGalley, Marie Benedict, and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book. I leave reviews for all books I read.
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Reading Progress
August 12, 2024
– Shelved
August 12, 2024
– Shelved as:
to-read
August 12, 2024
– Shelved as:
2025-new-releases
August 12, 2024
– Shelved as:
country-city-london-uk
August 12, 2024
– Shelved as:
favorite-authors-new-releases
August 12, 2024
– Shelved as:
historical-fiction
August 12, 2024
– Shelved as:
mysteries-and-thrillers
January 27, 2025
– Shelved as:
ng-2025
January 27, 2025
– Shelved as:
pub-feb
January 27, 2025
– Shelved as:
arc-2025
February 5, 2025
–
Started Reading
February 22, 2025
–
Finished Reading
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by
Karen
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Feb 05, 2025 12:19PM
I am really looking forward to reading this one, too Kristine. I am on a wait list at my local library. Thank you so much for the friend request. I appreciate other readers, lovers of dogs and LFL's! 🙂
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Karen wrote: "I am really looking forward to reading this one, too Kristine. I am on a wait list at my local library. Thank you so much for the friend request. I appreciate other readers, lovers of dogs and LFL'..."Karen~I have been trying to keep up and so far am doing ok this year. Thanks so much for accepting my friend request. 📖 + 🐾 = ❤️ Hope we like this book.
Aw, that's too bad Kristine. I have this on my Netgalley shelf too.
CarolG wrote: "Aw, that's too bad Kristine. I have this on my Netgalley shelf too."Carol ~I really was looking forward to this one. I’ve been reading it for almost 2 weeks. It’s just got all the elements of a great story, but just doesn’t for me at least, bring the vibrancy of the characters out. Hope it works better for you.
Super review. I would also think this sounds so intriguing! Too bad the execution fell flat.
Oh no! Sorry, this one didn't quite work out. Thank you for your review.
Excellent review, Kristine. Sorry this one didn't deliver.
I felt much the same about this one. Disappointed.
What a shame...hope your next is better, Kristine!
I liked this one a little more but I do agree that it would have been nice for the other three authors to have a bit more voice in this tale. Hope your next read is a good one!
A rare dud from an otherwise great historical fiction writer. I hope her next book works better for you. Appreciate your honest opinion, Kristine. 💖
Jenny wrote: "Super review. I would also think this sounds so intriguing! Too bad the execution fell flat."Jenny~For me, I had a tough time getting thru this one. Just dragged, but many enjoyed it. It sounded great.
Martine wrote: "Oh no! Sorry, this one didn't quite work out. Thank you for your review."Martine~It has gotten good reviews and usually am a Marie Benedict fan. Historical Fiction is slower, but not this bland and hard to get through. Thanks for commenting. 💕
Srivalli wrote: "Excellent review, Kristine. Sorry this one didn't deliver."Srivalli~Thanks. It just wasn’t the book for me. When I am counting the Chapters each night, know something is wrong.
Louise wrote: "I felt much the same about this one. Disappointed."Louise~I just read your review. You captured the problems very well. I almost DNF’d several times, but not that long of a book, so did finish. Glad you got to listen on Audio, think that would have made it better, not much, but anything would have been welcome.
Canadian Jen wrote: "What a shame...hope your next is better, Kristine!"Jen~Thanks so much 💕 I was really disappointed since getting to know these real fierce mystery writers sounded so good. Yes, reading another book already. Hope you are enjoying a good one, too. Go, Canada 🇨🇦 We love you.
Erin wrote: "I liked this one a little more but I do agree that it would have been nice for the other three authors to have a bit more voice in this tale. Hope your next read is a good one!"Erin~Glad you enjoyed it. Marie Benedict is a favorite author of mine. I was surprised that I didn’t love this one. Think if all the writers had a say, it would have worked better. Wait for Marie Benedict’s next book for sure. 💕
Rosh wrote: "A rare dud from an otherwise great historical fiction writer. I hope her next book works better for you. Appreciate your honest opinion, Kristine. 💖"Rosh~Thanks. Some people find Marie Benedict’s books slow, but usually I don’t find that. Anyway, for me it just wasn’t a great read. Appreciate your comments. 😊
