The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne Limoncelli is an old fashioned mystery set in 1938 England, and featuring the four most successful female mystery authors of the time (Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. sayers, and Margery Allingham) as fictional characters.
The four authors have been asked to cohost a charity gala at the country home of Sir Henry Heathcote, Baronet. The four authors are suddenly thrust into a real life mystery when Sir Henry is found dead the next morning.
One thing readers may appreciate is the character list at the beginning of the book. It can be useful as there are quite a few characters to keep track of, and in the beginning, it can get confusing.
The point of view alternates between several characters , including each of the four famous authors and Detective Chief Inspector Lilian Wyles of Scotland Yard CID. It was interesting seeing the thoughts of each of the characters, and how they approached investigating this real life mystery.
I enjoyed the book, but that enjoyment was tempered with a bit of annoyance that the author obviously did not do any research into proper forms of address for the British nobility. Throughout the book, the author incorrectly used the wrong form of address for characters, and worst of all wasn’t even consistent in doing so. This was an advance copy, so I hope this is addressed before publication.
If you can ignore those issues, the story was an interesting one and I recommend it to lovers of a good old fashioned mystery.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The Four Queens of Crime will be available on March 11 2025.
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