by Marie Benedict, 2025, Audiobook narrated by Bessie Carter, Macmillan Audio

The book is a form of historical fiction where the author uses the character of an historical figure and uses the character in a reconstructed situation. I ordinarily don’t care for this as the dialogue often seems contrived. In this case, the author uses nor one, but five figures from the past in this novel. The five characters were all women mystery writers from the 1920’s and 1930’s. The main character, Dorothy L. Sayers, wrote a series of crime novels centering on the amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wiimsey. Benedict uses actual facts to frame this novel. Sayers was considered one of the four Queens of Crime that included herself, Agatha Christi, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh. She was a founding member of the Detection Club. Benedict adds another character to the group, the Baroness Emma Orzcy to make five of the Queens. They embark on solving an actual crime to prove the skills they employ with their fictional characters actually work to solve a real crime.

As I mentioned, I’m not a fan of creating fictional dialogue for real-life historical characters. In the case of this novel, I really like it. The dialogue between these characters really brought them to life, particularly for Dorothy Sayers. The crowning glory of this book, however, is the narration by Bessie Carter. When I first started listening, I thought this narrator must be an actress. As it turns out, that is exactly what she is as she played the role of Prudence in the series Bridgerton. Ngaio Marsh happens to be a New Zealander, and Carter nailed the New Zealand accent. I thought she could have applied a bit more of an accent for Emma as she grew up in Germanic Europe, but that was okay. I really liked the main character, Dorothy Sayers. Carter’s reading was perfect.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this audiobook as much as I did. The story was fine, but the production was superb.