The Queens of Crime

Benedict follows The Mystery of Mrs. Christie with a shrewd speculative whodunit that imagines Agatha Christie’s peers joining her to investigate a murder in 1931 London. Crime writer Dorothy Sayers has just founded the Detection Club, “the preeminent organization of mystery writers” in England. After successfully recruiting Christie, Sayers becomes determined to add more female crime writers to the club’s ranks, and eventually enlists Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Baroness Emma Orczy. Once that cohort, who call themselves the “Queens of Crime,” swear on a skull to play fair with their readers, Sayers suggests they get their male colleagues to treat them with respect by solving a real murder. The group then crosses the Channel to probe the case of May Daniels, an English nurse who vanished in France seven months earlier, and whose corpse just turned up near the site of her disappearance. Benedict easily brings each of her five distinct writer/sleuths to life, and honors their literary legacies by providing plenty of ingenious, fair-play clues to help careful readers follow along and solve the central mystery. This is a treat for fans of golden age whodunits. Agent: Laura Dail, Laura Dail Literary. (Feb.)