The Four Queens of Crime

Limoncelli makes a splash with her riotously entertaining debut, which imagines real-life crime writers Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham teaming up to solve a murder in 1938. At the outset, the women, all friends, have agreed to host a fundraising gala for the Women’s Voluntary Service as fears rise that Nazi aggression might lead to war. The party is to be held at Hursley House, the country residence of former Conservative MP Sir Henry Heathcote. The festivities turn sour, however, when Heathcote is found dead in his library with a stunned expression on his face. Lilian Wyles, the real-life first female DCI at Scotland Yard, is assigned to the investigation, and she leans on the macabre expertise of Christie and her cohorts to help crack the case. Limoncelli delivers both a shrewd whodunit and an insightful look at the lives and careers of her heroines, with fizzy conversations about each woman’s writing style seamlessly woven into their crime-solving. The result is a note-perfect Golden Age pastiche with a satisfying metafictional twist. Agent: Murray Weiss, Catalyst Literary. (Mar.)