I know I say this ever time, but Marie Benedict is brilliant! The Queens of Crime is a juicy murder mystery which is trying to be solved by none other than the greatest women mystery writers of their time. Actually based on an incident which happened to writer Dorothy Sayers in the 1930’s, Benedict has created an exciting story as the five women writers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Emma Orczy, Margery Allingham and Sayers herself decide after being belittled by a group of men authors in a club the woman were “allowed” to join, dub themselves The Queens of Crime and take it upon themselves to figure out how a nurse from England went missing in France and was found dead. As they rely on their own masterful created detectives, they are able to piece together the extraordinary circumstances as to what happened and quite honestly embarrass the police.
May Daniels and her friend, both nurses, decided to spend their few days off together, going to a play and vising France. But unfortunately, May never returned to England. She went into the woman’s bathroom at the end of the trip before boarding the boat back to England and not only never came out but was never seen again and months later her body was found in woods with blood under her body and a syringe nearby. The police felt the case was closed and considered it a drug overdose. End of story.
But Dorothy Sayers, who was married to a journalist, felt something was off. She decides that the police don’t know what they are doing and suggests to her new friends the women in mystery, Queen of Crimes that they begin their own investigation into what could have happened to the young girl. And to add to this mystery, they are able to find a letter, which of course the police missed, which will send them down a path they could never imagine.
Thus begins their investigation into murder and the antics and their intuitiveness used to begin to piece the puzzle back together one step at a time. But unfortunately, this process will put one of their lives in jeopardy and will have a deep dark secret this writer has been keeping exposed. But through it all as they retrace May’s steps and sometimes get on each other’s nerves, these five strong women will discover they are better together than alone.
The Queens of Crime is a wonderful mix of their imaginative detectives…Poirot of course, Inspector Roderick Alleyn, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Albert Campion and Lord Peter Wimsey. It was truly enjoyable and of course shows women empowering women which is Benedict’s main achievement in her writings. I am sure if still alive these women would be beaming at her!
Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #MarieBenedict @TheQueensofCrime for the advanced copy.
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