The Queens of Crime by
Marie Benedict
A 2 star review
Publisher : St. Martin's Press (February 11, 2025)
Publication date : February 11, 2025
Print length : 315 pages
"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. "
The book blurb sounded like a fabulous who-done-it. Five popular successful crime story writers banding together to solve a real mystery. I was intrigued to find out how they'd pull it off with 5 strong personalities and different styles of writing. Unfortunately the story starts off slow and never picks up the pace. Told from Dorothy Sayers perspective I found her to be the queen of inner monolog. So much going on in her head including random thoughts that I didn't think helped the story. The other four writers are not fleshed out, they're almost a placeholder, no depth and not seemingly perceptive. The tale of the locked room murder was interesting enough but it couldn't hold my interest enough to engage with the victim or the investigation. About 20% into the book I knew it wasn't going to hold my interest and a couple of time I skipped what I felt was boring inner dialog. I earnestly wanted to like this book but it didn't meet my expectations.
I received a complementary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.