I have had the pleasure of reading several historical fiction novels by Marie Benedict, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, "The Queens of Crime" presented a unique twist. This cozy mystery features five renowned female mystery authors who come together to solve a murder set in the 1920s. While the story started off slowly, it quickly gained momentum, leading me to become deeply invested in both the plot and the characters. This is particularly noteworthy, as cozy mysteries are not typically my preference. Nonetheless, Benedict's exceptional writing truly captivated me.

Thank you to Net Galley and St’. Martin’s Press for the ARC to read and review.

One of the many reasons I love historical fiction is because it excites me to do additional research into the characters and/or events of the story. Such was the case with Queens of Crimes where I learned more about these illustrious women mystery writers as well as the real life victim in this story.

Set in London, the story takes place during the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction” where we meet the esteemed and accomplished female mystery writers Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Baroness Emma Orczy. Within a larger club of male writers who viewed them as inferior, they form their own secret club famously known as the Queens of Crime and set out to solve the real life murder of Nurse May Daniels. I was fascinated as Ms. Benedict gave us glimpses into the minds of our female author detectives, as they tried to imagine how they would write their fictional sleuths as they followed the path of a victim. Marie Benedict is undoubtedly a Queen of Historical Fiction as evidenced by her books depicting strong female protagonists during periods in history when their spirit and fortitude was not the norm and went against the grain.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Marie Benedict for the opportunity to receive a digital copy of this fabulous story in exchange for my honest review.

I have read all of Marie Benedicts books and she is a wonderful champion of unknown women... in this case, better knows. Written well, I enjoyed the diifferent approach in this book and appreciate the opportunity to read.

8 am a big fan of Marie Benedict. This book was interesting and cleverly written but it was a little slow getting into. It was about five famous female mystery writers in the 1930’s solve a hidden room crime using their deductive reasoning and brilliant minds. The police have given up on the murder of a nurse. These women take on the case to prove their worth. It was interesting to see how they were able to do this. Thank you net galley and st martins publishing for letting me read this

Fans of Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, etc. will love this imagining of this team of female mystery authors banding together to solve a mystery.

📖 The Queens of Crime 📖 And she has done it again; it does not matter if she is writing about First Ladies or The Queens of Crime, Marie Benedict is the master of giving a voice to women. It’s 1930’s London, the Golden Age of mystery and women are emerging in the genre but their voices are not yet equal to those of men. This beautiful novel is an absolutely fascinating deep dive into this era, showing the tenacity, innovation, creativity, and heart of writers that created a prolific collection of work . When a young woman is found murdered, the female writers treat her death like a crime in one of their novels in an attempt to solve this cold case. The Queens of Crime is a stunningly captivating piece of historical fiction that brings light to a magnificently mysterious period of masterpieces.

I enjoyed Benedict's newest novel as it combined two of my favorite genres - historical fiction and mystery. This story focuses on the lives of five female authors in the 1930s. While I am familiar with Agatha Christie, I didn't know much about the other four ladies. The mystery was a little predictable, but I appreciated how the women fought to be taken seriously.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

This was a fun story. I had never heard of the Detection Club, but it is an interesting concept. It would have been enjoyable to be in the presence of great mystery writers such as Christie, Sayers, Chesterton, Orczy, Morrison, etc. It is also believable that the men in the club would have been reluctant to allow more than a couple token women authors -- Sayers, as she helped found the club, and Christie -- in the club, and that Sayers would have had to carry out a scheme like that portrayed in the book in order to get other worthy female authors of detective fiction admitted.

Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham are not authors with which I was really familiar, but the idea of those two women teaming up with Sayers, Christie, and Baroness Emma Orczy to solve a real mystery was an appealing plot line. The story is well done, with plenty of surprises regarding what happened to May Daniels, the murder victim. The author does a good job of using the different personalities and approaches of the five women to advance the story -- sometimes having personalities conflict and tension arise, while other times having the women collaborate well together, or even improvise well together. I liked that the women got caught up in solving the mystery, thinking about how their fictional characters would go about solving the crime, but events occurred that reminded them that they were dealing with real life.

Five women crime writers led by Dorothy Sayers come together to form a group called The Queens of Crime. They decide that solving a real life murder mystery of the death of May Daniels, a young English nurse, will help them be recognized by the men of the Detective Club.

The story is inspired by a true story of Dorothy Sayers life. While the book started a little slow, once the women started investigating the crime the pace really picked up.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc copy in exchange for my opinion of the book.

Fun premise, but I could not get into it. The writing style was not a good fit for me. Others may enjoy it!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The premise behind this book is the greatest women mystery writers solve a murder. I am not familiar with all the greats but this worked. Yes - women are not taken seriously/given respect they deserve - repeating it over and over was redundant.

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict is an exciting historical fiction mystery that keeps the reader engaged throughout the story. Written with intrigue and intelligence the main characters are some of the most famous female mystery writers of their time. As the women attempt to prove their credibility within the boy's club, they decide to solve a real-life murder of a young nurse that had been getting significant publicity in the news cycle.
Working together to piece together the mystery, the women walk in the shoes of the victim to uncover her story. What they find is a system strife with misogyny. and injustice. Do they solve the mystery? You'll have to read to find out.

As a person who has never read a book written by Agatha Christie or any of the other books by the "Queens", I found that to my surprise I could NOT put this book down. I believe my prejudice stems from my father who was always recommending Agatha Christie books to me. I mean, what would the older generation be reading that I would want to read! Well, now I am the older generation. This book is well written and entertaining. Not sitting on the edge of your seat tension, but characters and places I could vividly picture while reading. The term "surplus" women was used often. These were women who were left without men, after WWII.They were the ones who worked in the jobs that men were "too good for;" the jobs the men didn't want. May Daniels was a surplus woman working as a nurse. When she disappeared, when her body was discovered, it just wasn't important to solve her murder. The police took the easiest explanation and did not dig deep. "The Queens of Crime" is the story of a handful of famous women crime writers who set out to prove themselves. Thank you, Marie Benedict. I always read what you write and thanks to you, I have finally read an Agatha Christie type locked room mystery. My dad would be so proud. Also, Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the complimentary digital ARC. This review is my own words, my own honest opinion.

thanks NetGalley for the eARC

DNF at 22%

summary: the queens of golden age detective fiction solve a mystery or something idk I didn’t get that far

thoughts: this book is allergic to letting its readers figure out information via context clues. like you don’t have to explain every cultural reference or character backstory immediately these things are allowed to develop over time! and please assume that your audience knows extremely basic Shakespeare references (and if they don’t, it’s not that serious. they’ll survive without you explaining every line of dialogue). maddening. can’t stand it.

I was quite excited by the initial premise of this book. Quite clever getting a group of women mystery writers together to solve a real life murder. I loved the friendship the women developed. I didn't know much about Dorothy Sayers. I found her personal history compelling. I was a bit disappointed by the actual "mystery' of this novel. Given the master of mystery Agatha Christie was a primary character I anticipated a really good who dunnit. This fell flat for me. The murderer was obvious early on in the story. I found the use of the term red herring was over used and it would have been best to let the reader themselves discover the red herring than keep pointing it out. I will share my review closer to the publication date.

Another wonderful read from Marie! I have always been a huge fan of Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie so I enjoyed seeing into their life while learning about the other Queens of Crime. The mystery plot while not gripping, did serve as an engaging plot device to keep the novel moving forward and showcase the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Marie Benedict’s Queens of Crime. I really loved both The Other Einstein and also The Personal Librarian. I loved how these five female crime writers proved their worth to belong to the mainly male crime writers club, The Detection Club by solving a real-life murder. However, I didn’t enjoy reading this new book as much as I did the previous two I’ve read. I felt like there was a little too much of beating a dead horse - mistreatment of women and also a lot of repetitive text within the story. I encourage all to read this tale and to form their own opinion.

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict
It’s 1931, Agatha Christie and her rival Dorothy Sayers join forces with three other women. Together, five of the greatest female crime writers take on the Detection Club, a male dominated venue of writers. To prove themselves, the Queens of Crime dive into solving the mystery of a missing nurse, May Daniels. The case has all the hallmarks of a locked room case and fits their writing style. The women face danger, threats, and revealing their own guarded secrets to find answers and redeem the reputation of the young nurse.
This is truly a cozy mystery in the style of Agatha Christie’s stories. I really enjoyed the writing style. The characters were well developed and relatable.
I give this 4/5 stars.
I would like to Thank NetGalley for the ARC and the ability to offer my honest opinion.

I was so excited to receive an early copy of this book. The story is set in 1930s London, and follows Dorothy Sayers, part of a set of female crime writers who want to prove that they are equals to their male counterparts. These women, who include Agatha Christie, call themselves the "Queens of Crime". Their goal is to solve an actual murder, of which has taken place in France - a woman was found in a park, and they believe there are connections to the upper echelons in Britain. But things soon turn even worse, as Dorothy is eventually targeted. This was based off a true story, and I loved how the author empowered all of the women in this book, and also the strong research that was evident within the writing. I also loved learning about female writers that I had not heard about previously.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict
The Queens of Crime
by Marie Benedict (Goodreads Author)
8459887
Debbie's reviewSep 10, 2024 · edit
it was ok
bookshelves: fiction, netgalley

Thank you, Netgalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for a fair review.

I requested this book from Netgalley because I had read "The Other Einstein" also by Marie Benedict.
Although i Had issues with "The Other Einstein", the novel did spark an interest in learning about the real Mrs. Einstein and her life.

This book is very different. It also is a novel where real life people are fictionalized. The difference is that this isn't so much about these ladies' lives but it is a murder mystery involving these real life mystery writers. They become sleuths who track down a murderer.

The problem is that the characters aren't well formed. Ms. Benedict writes dialogue meant to sound authentic. Unfortunately, I felt like their conversations came off as flat and stodgy. These ladies didn't interest me at all. They seemed like unimaginative busy bodies. I learned very little about the real life writers that this book was based on.

Overall, I can't recommend this book based on the murder mystery. It fell into place much to easily. I also can't recommend it as a starting point for learning about Dorothy Sayer, Agatha Christie or the other ladies in this story.