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by Rosanne Limoncelli
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.
"Limoncelli makes a splash with her riotously entertaining debut...A note-perfect Golden Age pastiche with a satisfying metafictional twist." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The inclusion of real historical figures adds to the enjoyment of Limoncelli's traditional mystery. Fans of Christie or Rhys Bowen will appreciate the details of the gala and the prewar intrigue." —Library Journal (starred review)
"A properly thorny mystery and a delightful portrayal of the Queens of Crime. Readers will love this clever story. Its style harkens back to the Golden Age of crime fiction and also introduces them to the first woman detective chief inspector in the CID at Scotland Yard. An artful debut!" —Anna Lee Huber, USA Today bestselling author
"The most devious minds of mystery's Golden Age tackle a murder none of them could have invented, to delightful effect." —Stephanie Barron, author of the Jane Austen mysteries
This information about The Four Queens of Crime was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rosanne Limoncelli is a filmmaker, writer, and roller skater living in Brooklyn. She has written, directed, and produced short narrative films, documentaries and educational films. Rosanne also writes plays, screenplays, poetry, games, mysteries, and science fiction. Her short fiction first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and most recently her work was published in Suspense Magazine and Noir Nation. Rosanne's short films have been screened in festivals around the world, and her book Teaching Filmmaking: Empowering Students Through Visual Storytelling is available on Amazon.
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