The Queens of Crime

Dorothy Sayers, an English mystery writer, meets with Agatha Christie, the country’s most revered mystery writer. Dorothy hasn’t seen Agatha since her mysterious disappearance five years ago. After Agatha’s ex-husband asked for a divorce, her car was found near the edge of a cliff. Agatha was found 10 days later, and she had no memory of the incident. Dorothy worries that the tough, charming woman she knew before the incident is gone. Agatha reluctantly agrees to join the Detection Club, a new organization Dorothy founded for writers of mystery fiction.

Dorothy argues that the Detection Club can help raise the profile of mystery fiction, which she considers unfairly maligned among the mainstream literary community. She reveals that some male members of the Detection Club, including President G. K. Chesterton (known as Gilbert), have been fighting the inclusion of female authors besides herself and Agatha. Agatha is infuriated. Dorothy proposes that she and Agatha recruit their friends to form an exclusive club for female writers to protest the exclusion of women from the Detection Club. Agatha agrees.