Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this great book. Marie Benedict did it again! This is yet another great historical fiction taking place in the 1930s London. As always, there are wonderful characters, great, fast moving plot, mystery, great narration (I listened to the e-audiobook) and my favorite — a witty banter between characters. Can’t wait for the next Marie Benedict masterpiece!

As reporters and law enforcement fail to effectively solve a young nurse's murder, five unsuspecting female mystery writers team up to conduct an investigation of their own. The "Queens of Crime" (Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy) showcase distinct personalities and sleuthing strategies. This book captures all the elements of an empowering women's fiction novel, a twisty mystery, and an intriguing historical fiction tale.

If you enjoy reading golden age detective fiction, then I recommend Marie Benedict's book to you! Bessie Carter does a great job with the range of accents.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this audiobook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Audio Review: The narration is fitting, smooth, and well done. Would recommend.

Review: The Queens of Crime is a very interesting, creative non-fiction / retelling (it's not non-fiction but it's based on true events and lives). I really enjoyed the first 20 percent of this story. We meet some kick ass women, who wrote mysteries during the golden age of crime.... I'm sure you've read the synopsis. I enjoyed the fictionalization of these women's lives and incorporation of a real life mystery. I enjoyed the secret society aspect and the solving a fake murder as initiation. There was so much to love at the start. That's where I'm going to shift gears a little bit. This is where the story lost me and is likely more a me problem. Once the women start solving the crime, the suspense actually dies down and I lost a lot of interest in the story. I didn't find the crime interesting but also, there were way too many conveniences in the story and ways of getting information. I want to be careful here because I don't know what's true and what's not so maybe some of it is real and just hard to believe. You go from clue to clue essentially and the women get information from various sources over and over in ways that really were just hard to believe. It also lost a lot of the mystery and interesting dynamics between the club members.

Some things it had going for it were powerful women getting shit done. I did love that aspect of it. Outside of the requirement on netgalley, I'm choosing to not rate this story. I read this as a way to try something a little different and it didn't work for me. I think if you like creative fiction based on real people and don't mind some of my earlier complaints this story will be a knock out of the park. It's truly well written and well told, just not entertaining in a way I prefer.