The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne Limoncelli

The Four Queens of Crime
by Rosanne Limoncelli

ISBN-13: 9798892420600
Hardback: 320 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Released: March 11, 2025

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
1938, London. The four queens of British crime fiction, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham, are hosting a gala to raise money for the Women’s Volunteer Service to help Britain prepare for war. Baronet Sir Henry Heathcote has loaned Hursley House for the event and all the elites of London society are attending. The gala is a brilliant success, despite a few hiccups, but the next morning Sir Henry is found dead in the library.

Detective Chief Inspectors Lilian Wyles and Richard Davidson from Scotland Yard are quickly summoned and discover a cluster of potential suspects among the guests, including an upset fiancée, a politically ambitious son, a reserved but protective brother, an irate son-in-law, a rebellious teenage daughter, and the deputy home secretary.

Quietly recruiting the four queens of crime, DCI Wyles must sort through the messy aftermath of Sir Henry’s death to solve the mystery and identify the killer.


My Review:
The Four Queens of Crime is a mystery set in 1938. Except everyone's convinced that Britain will soon go to war against Hitler. Actually, in 1938, British politicians expected to keep Britain out of Hitler's war. One character says, "Hitler's about to knock on our door and at least the Communists are on our side against him." This was before the Soviet Union was at war, let alone helping out anyone but themselves. Anyway. We see various events from the party and aftermath from the viewpoints of Agatha, Dorothy, Ngaio, Margery, a few of the servants, and the two Scotland Yard detectives. Sir Henry had arguments with every member of his family and was making business deals with known 5th columnists, so there are plenty of suspects.

The two lesbian teenagers would have had the least to complain about as it was still illegal to be openly homosexual (which is not mentioned in the book), so, duh, a Baronet would obviously object to their public display. Everyone else seemed touched by their love for each other and fully supported them. Several times, I felt like the author didn't have a good feel for the actual history of the time....though she did do some research into female cops!

As for the mystery, the four writers eavesdropped and casually asked questions and reported their discoveries to the female detective, Lilian. The detectives interviewed everyone and poked around. At the end, Lilian asked pointed questions about motives in a group setting (a sort of 'big reveal' scene), revealing the last needed clue and prompting a confession. Whodunit and why was my main suspect all along. There was no real arrest, and everyone's satisfied. Except me. I prefer actual justice served. There were only a couple of uses of bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this mystery to those intrigued by the idea of the Queens of Crime being involved a mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.