THE QUEENS OF CRIME (audiobook) by Marie Benedict

5 stars!

Another A-MAY-ZING historical fiction outing by Marie Benedict, whose crisp, intimate writing always draws you into her well-crafted novels. Here five of the leading British women detective novelists team up to solve a real-life murder. Benedict combines her historical portraits of women with the exact sort of mystery novel popular at the time.

The novel opens with Dorothy Sayers founding a British Detection Club to help raise the literary status of mystery writers and get them to be taken seriously by the literary establishment in the 1930’s. Much to her chagrin, the male President she installs only wants Dorothy and Agatha Christie among the ranks of dozens of men. Dorothy and Agatha hatch a plot to get three other leading women writers initiated, Baroness Emma Orczy, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham, but the women continue to get snubbed by the condescending men.

To take their come-uppance, the women decide to embark on solving the real-life murder of sweet nurse May Daniels who disappeared during a day outing in France shopping with a friend and has been found months later dead in brambly bushes of that French town. May, in her sparse nurse living quarters, has two sumptuous gowns and hard-to-get tickets to best-selling play that she could never afford on her own. The women detectives brilliantly start to apply their female intuition about people and relationships as well as their literary detective skills to unravel what truly happened to May.

Red herrings abound as each author gathers increasingly complex clues. You get swept up in their intense efforts now focused on justice for May, as the police have brushed off the crime investigation.

Delightful narrator Bessie Carter, an English actress best known for her role as Prudence Featherington on Bridgerton, is fantastic. She ranges nimbly from clipped posh British accents to New Zealand twang to imperious men. What a perfect choice for Marie’s latest book!

If you have yet to discover Marie Benedict’s fantastic other novels (I’ve listened to them all and they are all 5 stars!) – a real literary treat awaits you!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for an advanced listen to this audiobook.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.