For those who do not frequently read fiction with a historical element (or books that feature real-life characters), this book can take a moment to get into. However, once the Queens of Crime land in France for the first time, to solve a murder that neither the French or English authorities have been able to solve, you will find yourself drawn into the story completely.

When the body of a young nurse is found month's after her disappearance, both the press and the authorites are only too willing to make it a case of a drug deal gone wrong, it's only the Queens, all masters in the fields of writing murder mysteries (including none other than Agatha Christie herself) who determine that the syringe found at the scene is nothing more than a red herring.

This is a must read for all those who enjoy reading murder mysteries.

As far as I know, this favorite author of mine has not written a mystery like this one before. Well, here is yet another tour de force by Ms. Benedict. It feels like she is skilled at writing both a detective story and historical fiction. I recommend it highly.

Many know who the Queens of Crime were. This group included Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Baroness Orczy, and Margery Allingham. They all have prominent roles in this enjoyable story that is narrated by Dorothy Sayers.

At the time that the story was set, a number of male writers of detective fiction decided to band together in a society. Well, the women wanted a part of this too and pushed their way into the Detection Club.

In this story, these women want to prove their worth by solving a real case. They become involved in figuring out what happened to a British nurse who was murdered in France. They are intrepid in following clues, making hypotheses, and working to bring matters to a resolution.

Along with the crime story, readers are given insight into who these women of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction were. I enjoyed these parts of the story and also what was shared about the creation of their novels.

All in all, this is a most engaging read that fans of historical crime fiction and Benedict will enjoy. I think that Benedict will find some new enthused readers as well.

Note: I am a fan of toggling between the audio and reading editions of titles. They complement one another and add to my enjoyment. In this instance, the audio book narrator did a wonderful job of speaking in the voices of each of the main characters. This added to my pleasure in this title.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this title. Also, thank you to Macmillan Audio for the audio book. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 11 February 2025

A strong feminist book about women solving a crime and dismantling stereotypes about women. A group of crime writers set out to solve a murder of a young woman who was villainized in the press. An interesting look at how women are treated, even when they are victims

Marie Benedict is an auto-read author for me. Her writing is fresh and rich and beautifully manages to capture the time period and characters in that particular novel. More than "just" reading, her books are immersive experiences to inhale and savor.

The Queens of Crime is set in 1930 England and France. The infamous Detection Club has been formed with mentions of G. K. Chesterton and Anthony Berkeley (one of my personal favourites). But females are a bit underpresented so a group within the group is formed called The Queens of Crime, comprised of Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. Watching their individuality was fun, especially as I have read all of Christie's mysteries at least five times each and all I can get my hands on by the others. I have always felt a particular kinship with Agatha Christie which stuck to me like glue in this novel, too.

The Queens decide to solve a murder to gain respectability and credibility as women. Plus women are often more caring and compassionate. A missing English nurse is found dead outside, though with the hallmarks of a locked room mystery, the ladies' specialty. Meanwhile, Dorothy's journalist husband is intrigued by the story. He does his job while she spends her time time inveigling, asking questions in shops and businesses. She and Agatha are especially suited to the task. Amongst the women there are a few disagreements but as time goes on the dynamic changes. Using their gray cells, they make discoveries the police have missed. Not only that but Dorothy realizes she must deal with her past. Agatha's mysterious disappearance is alluded to as well.

I could practically hear the crisp swish of fabric and taste the sublime orange poppyseed cake. When the ladies discussed books and their methodology, I listened as though right there with them. The murder game was good fun.

My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this enchanting novel.

Marie Benedict has a gift for making you feel like you are reliving the time in which her book is written. On every page, I felt I was joining Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie on their adventures seeking the killer of a young woman as part of the "Queens of Crime." This was a fabulously well written story, and so enjoyable! Just a treat to read.

The plot was a very intriguing one - a real mystery to be solved, and prominent fiction mystery writers as the sleuths. These ladies did an excellent job of uncovering facts that were overlooked by the police and expertly solving the crime. I enjoyed the exchanges between the characters and the setting in the 1930's gave the story a touch of reality.
The story did seem to drag for me, and I often found myself skimming over pages to get to a more interesting part. But I found the book entertaining and would recommend it to other mystery lovers.

Marie Benedict is one of my favorite historical fiction authors. While this was not my favorite work by her, it was still an enjoyable historical mystery based on real-life female authors of the 1930s in the UK.

The book features Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and a few other legendary mystery writers of that period, who are part of a social group known as The Queens of Crime. When a young working class nurse is found dead in a French park, the police fail to do their due diligence into investigating those who may have played a hand in her demise. The Queens suspect foul play, but their concerns are dismissed by the sexist male law enforcement officers. Despite this, the plucky group launch their own investigation, because who better than to solve this case than a group of intelligent crime writers?

The novel picks up pace when the women soon learn that they are in danger themselves, as someone is intent on preventing them from digging deeper and unraveling this mystery. I appreciated how Benedict touched upon the differences between these authors (age, background, etc) while demonstrating their unique bond as unconventional and successful women in a time when men ruled society.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martins Press for an advanced copies of this book for my review.

I liked this one fine, but was slightly disappointed for a couple of reasons. I don't want to be THAT insufferable person complaining about historical inaccuracy, but as someone who has done a lot of research into the Golden Age authors and the Detection Club recently, the initial chapters did turn me off somewhat.

This novel, set in 1931, predominantly follows the author Dorothy L. Sayers, creator of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Dorothy has recently founded the Detection Club, a mystery writer's group based in London, but some of her male counterparts don't think there's a place for women in the crime-writing game. Thus, Dorothy and some other female authors - Agatha Christie, Baroness Orczy, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh - create a subgroup called the Queens of Crime to infiltrate the club from the inside and prove women are just as good, if not better, at crime writing than men. How will they do that? By solving a real-life murder, of course!

I have never heard of any male-vs-female divide within the Detection Club - it's not super hard to believe, given that men even in 2025 have a hard time dealing with powerful, talented women, but this was clearly intended as Benedict's vehicle to make a statement on misogyny and female empowerment. Additionally, there was no group called the Queens of Crime (it was a nickname given to them), Margery Allingham joined the Detection Club in 1934, and Ngaio Marsh didn't join until later in life, because she spent a decent amount of her time in New Zealand. Dorothy L. Sayers was a founding member of the Detection Club, but I don't know if it really came about the way Benedict tells it - most sources list Anthony Berkeley Cox as the main founder, with Sayers penning the famous Detection Club oath. Will most readers care about these things? No, but this is my review, and I cared! Plus, I really like discussing this topic.

I did find the girl power messaging a bit heavy-handed, with Dorothy Sayers at one point telling the book's bad guy that "all women are Queens," which was...a bit on the nose, for my specific taste. Once we got past the initial premise, the investigative beats were quite good, and I liked the Queens' investigation and how they found out more clues about what happened to May Daniels, the British nurse killed in Boulogne, France. This storyline is based loosely on a real murder case Dorothy L. Sayers was interested in.

The other main thing that bothered me about the book was the reveal of the villain, which read a bit over the top in my personal opinion. I think this was a fine read, all in all, and I see it has many four and five-star reviews already, so I am sure many people will love this.

The Queens of Crime is author Marie Benedict's tribute to five 20th century "queens" of the British crime novel: Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Baroness Emma Orczy, and Dorothy Sayers. The novel finds them, led by Sayers, seeking to cement their legitimacy among contemporary male crime/mystery writers while investigating the death of a young nurse, a crime that male police and journalists have too readily attributed to the victim's imagined clandestine doings.

I think Benedict has missed the boat with this one. While the plot is mildly engaging, Benedict doesn't capture the rich lives and personalities of her central characters. I've read and enjoyed all these authors, particularly Sayers and Christie; Benedict just doesn't do them justice. All these queens of crime were fascinating, brilliant women. So while I'm thrilled that the very popular Benedict focuses on them, I'm disappointed that they come across more cardboard than real..

Title: The Queens of Crime
Author: Marie Benedict
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: 4.0 out of 5

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.

This started off pretty slowly, and I almost gave up and DNFed it. It ended up being a decent read, although it’s not fast-paced at all. I enjoyed seeing the author’s version of these famous authors on the page, but the POV felt distant to me, dragging the pace down.

Marie Benedict is a bestselling author. The Queens of Crime is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 2/13).

When mystery writer Dorothy Sayer talks fellow authors into investigating a real life murder, we get a wonderful cozy mystery with real life mystery authors , including Agatha Christie, in the role of detective . Did I guess the killer ? Yes ; did I have an amazing time reading the ladies solve the murder - definitely!

I honestly didn’t know the other 4 authors much - so I will have to add some of their books to my the as well

My rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫

I loved this unique way to view the Queens of Crime and it's even more impressive this was based on a true story!

I was unable to finish this book and thus will be not be posting a full review on my blog. I found the writing boring and the dialogue over the top.
I know this is loose historical fiction but it felt like a parody. Thank you for your consideration and the opportunity.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Queens of Crime" and all opinions expressed are my own. I listened to the audio book. The story was ok. It followed a group of ladies trying to solve a crime. It just didn't catch my attention.

I enjoyed the sleuthing of The Queens of Crime novelists. Bringing their fictional detectives thoughts into a real life mystery was captivating.

The Queens of Crime
By: Marie Benedict

Set in 1930's England and France, The Queens of Crime follows real life mystery authors Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy as they form the Detection Club. Facing backlash for inviting additional women into the club, Dorothy and Agatha form The Queens of Crime (including the other women) and set out to solve the murder of a young English nurse.

I appreciated that the book was based on real people (introducing me to women writers I was not familiar with-Ngaio, Margery and The Baroness) and enjoyed the "locked room" aspect of the mystery.

I did, however, feel the story dragged a bit in the later half and found myself skimming some chapters.

I'm glad I read it (my second book from this author) and will keep her upcoming books on my radar.

I loved that this book was inspired by a true story in Dorothy Sayers' life and brought together the Queens of Crime to solve a real life mystery instead of just writing about it. The book had me screaming in frustration seeing how little women were thought of and I really enjoyed the Queens and their attempts to solve the mystery.

In the style of Agatha Christie, five female mystery authors set about to solve a murder. Along the way they will encounter danger and lies. This was a fun read. I enjoyed the friendships between the women and their collaborations to solve the mystery.

One of the problems with writing fiction about real people and real events is that sometimes pesky facts get in the way of fiction in a way that can be problematic for a reader who is aware of the actual facts. The changed timeline of the body's discovery made for more compelling fiction, but took away from the actual human tragedy. I found the characterizations of the writers unlikeable and the narrative generally lackluster. More for fans of Marie Benedict than for Golden Age Detective Era afficionados.

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict is an enchanting dive into 1930s crime writing, spotlighting Agatha Christie and her legendary "rival," Dorothy Sayers. The novel explores the friendship and collaboration of five iconic women crime writers—Sayers, Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Baroness Emma Orczy—who form a secret society to solve the murder of a young nurse. Blending mystery, suspense, and the power of female camaraderie, this fast-paced page-turner is both captivating and heartwarming. The ladies learn that solving a real crime is a lot different than writing about it, but the journey is a delight. The story was a page-turner and kept me intrigued at a perfect pace. 4.5 stars. Thank you to the author, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.