The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne Limoncelli

 

First Line: Detective Chief Inspector Lilian Wyles stood behind her father as he sat in his wheelchair, facing the front window of their second floor sitting room in their home on the eastside of London.

It's 1938, and the four women the media have named "The Four Queens of Crime" (Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham) have all agreed to attend a charity event at Sir Henry Heathcote's Hursley House. The elite of London society are there, and it's a brilliant success... until the next morning when Sir Henry is found dead in the library.

Now a fifth queen of crime, Detective Chief Inspector Lilian Wyles (the first woman to serve as a ranking officer in the CID at Scotland Yard) makes an appearance. Accompanied by DCI Richard Davidson, it is Wyles' task to sort through all the guests for potential suspects, and she thinks she has just the right sort of people to help her: the Four Queens of Crime.

~

In Rosanne Limoncelli's Preface, she introduces the real-life people she is portraying fictionally. I was already familiar with the four best-selling crime writers of their day-- Christie, Sayers, Marsh, and Allingham-- but I'd never heard of DCI Lilian Wyles, and I enjoyed watching these five characters work with each other. Wyles had a particularly difficult time of it because her male counterpart thought the four writers would have absolutely nothing worthwhile to add to the investigation. The five women had to learn how to work around him.

The mystery revolved around a typical British aristocratic family in a large country house just before the start of World War II. Although the whodunit was rather easily deduced, the upstairs-downstairs tension worked well. Those who are familiar with the four authors' books will also find amusing moments along the way, as in Agatha Christie getting the germ of an idea for And Then There Were None.

All in all, The Four Queens of Crime was a pleasant way to spend a few hours, but I really didn't find it to be a standout.

The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne Limoncelli

eISBN: 9798892420617

Crooked Lane Books © 2025

eBook, 320 pages

Historical Mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Net Galley 

On My Radar: Rosanne Limoncelli's The Four Queens of Crime!

 

I'm always on the lookout for new crime fiction to read, but that's no surprise to you, is it? Sometimes a debut mystery will get a stranglehold on my attention, and I just have to read it. That's what happened with Rosanne Limoncelli's The Four Queens of Crime.

Let me tell you more about it!

Available March 11, 2025!

Synopsis:

"In this debut mystery DCI Lilian Wyles, the first woman detective chief inspector in the CID, is determined to find a killer with the help of the four queens of crime, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham, perfect for fans of Elly Griffiths and Claudia Gray.

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 Voluntary 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."

Does this intrigue you as much as it does me? It's becoming more and more common for authors to have real-life people in their casts of characters, and it doesn't always work. But... sometimes it does-- brilliantly. I'm looking forward to reading this one. How about you?