Lorna's Reviews > The Queens of Crime

Happy Publication Day - February 11, 2025

What can I say, The Queens of Crime by a favorite historical fiction writer, Marie Benedict, was a delightful journey into the world of crime writing in the 1930s, and specifically of women as in Agatha Christie. It is in this book that we come to know Dorothy Sayers, purported to be Agatha Christie’s legendary rival. But it is in this fast-paced mystery novel that we are enthralled in the power of friendship among women as five of the greatest crime writers have banded together to form a secret society to prove their worth to their legendary counterparts in the formidable Detection Club. They call themselves The Queens of Crime.. Led by Dorothy Sayers, this illustrious group included Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Baroness Emma Orczy. They take it upon themselves to solve the crime of an actual murder of a young English nurse found strangled in a park in France. The mystery surrounding her death ultimately leads to very interesting circumstances and places and mystery and suspense, this was a page-turner. But at the heart of this was the involvement of these women in what may have first only been a lark and a challenge but soon captured their hearts in their quest for the truth.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an advanced reader’s copy of this book to be published in February 2025.