The Queens of Crime
by Marie Benedict
Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Pages: 310
Get from: Library | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
My Rating: ★★★★☆
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.
Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.
Review
NOTE: This review is based on an eBook I borrowed from my local public library system on December 9, 2025.
I didn’t realize until the author’s note that The Queens of Crime (TQoC) had a basis in fact — beyond the existence of the main characters. However, May Daniels really was murdered, although, sadly, her crime was never solved. I don’t know how to feel about TQoC knowing that May Daniels was a real person whose life and crime were fictionalized for this book. It feels insensitive.
For the purposes of this review, however, I’ll do my best to forget that bit and focus on how I felt while reading.
TQoC made me want to read other good mysteries. The story and characters kept me interested and engaged right to the end. My single critique is that the “Queens” — while quick to suss out the syringe as a red herring because of their writing — seem incapable of considering a red herring suspect. It feels incongruous.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of TQoC is how Marie Benedict manages to clearly map out how disadvantaged women were at the time without beating you over the head with it. The “Queens” all have issues with the status quo, but will also use it to their advantage as necessary. They make the patriarchy work for them, exposing its shortcomings to the reader in the process.
I think TQoC is an excellent addition to the mystery genre.
Notable Quotes
Never forget that we women aren’t what you call us—witches or crones or madwomen or surplus or nobodies. We are all Queens.
… we only learn about our humanity and develop empathy from our mistakes—and we could do with more doses of humanity, here and elsewhere.
About the Author
Marie Benedict is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Queens of Crime, The Mitford Affair, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, The Only Woman in the Room, Lady Clementine, Carnegie’s Maid, The Other Einstein, and the novella, Agent 355. With Victoria Christopher Murray, she co-wrote the Good Morning America Book Club pick The Personal Librarian and the Target Book of the Year The First Ladies. With Courtney Sheinmel, she co-wrote the first in a middle grade historical adventure series, called The Secrets of the Lovelace Academy.
Her books have been translated into thirty languages, and selected for the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Target Book Club, Costco Book Club, Indie Next List, and LibraryReads List.
Author links: Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon Author Page
Have you read The Queens of Crime? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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