The Queens of Crime (10.5 hours), by Marie Benedict, unites Golden Age mystery writers Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Emma Orczy to solve a crime. Based on an actual murder Sayers investigated, The Queens of Crime is both a great cozy murder mystery and a nuanced portrait of cooperation and competition among women writers.
Bessie Carter’s vivid narration underscores each queen’s complexity. Her excellent dialect work makes the banter between feminist New Zealander Marsh and Hungarian-born aristocrat Orczy both fun and revelatory. She delivers Christie’s journey from trauma to new strength with convincing subtlety, while Allingham, the youngest, blossoms through her friendship with the older women. Carter’s interpretation of Sayers is especially superb, portraying her wit and intellect, but also her vulnerability as the keeper of a secret that could upend her life and destroy her career.
