The Queens of Crime

Dorothy struggles to accept that the confession to May Daniels’s murder is a hoax. In addition, she struggles to write as she grows more attached to the case. Margery appears and invites Dorothy to visit Madame Isobel’s, the boutique where May Daniels’s expensive dresses were purchased. The women obtain the buyer’s address by pretending to be friends of May’s hoping to buy the same dress. The address links to an insurance company in a posh business district.

At a tea shop near the insurance company, Dorothy and Margery share their findings with the group. Dorothy proposes that Emma and Ngaio pose as interested customers and try to obtain a list of the company’s principal partners, since they would be the only employees able to afford the dresses. Emma and Ngaio quickly return with two names: Jimmy Williams and his son, Louis Williams, who was interviewed in the case of the missing violinist. Dorothy suggests that Louis may have been May’s boyfriend and killer.

Dorothy travels with Agatha to Abney Hall, the home of Agatha’s sister, Margaret “Madge” Watts. Dorothy immediately recognizes aspects of the estate from Agatha’s novels. In addition, she senses tension between the sisters. When Dorothy asks about Jimmy and Louis Williams, Madge’s husband, Jim, reveals that Jimmy Williams was born out of wedlock to a wealthy man and his scandalously young maid and that their fortune is self-made.