Dorothy Sayers meets with Agatha Christie to discuss how male writers are blocking women from fully participating in the Detection Club.

Dorothy recruits writers Emma Orczy, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham to form an exclusive women's group called the Queens of Crime.

The Queens sneak Emma, Ngaio, and Margery into the Detection Club initiation ceremony, where the stunned president admits all five women.

Male Detection Club members refuse to stand near or socialize with the newly admitted female writers at the post-ceremony party.

Dorothy proposes that the Queens solve the real-life murder of nurse May Daniels to prove their worth to their male peers.

Dorothy travels to Boulogne with her journalist husband Mac while the other Queens secretly follow to join the investigation.

A café waitress named Madame Brat reveals she recommended a hat shop to May and Celia on the day May disappeared.

A hat shop owner reveals that May secretly returned alone later that day and purchased a plain grey hat.

Dorothy disguises herself with a new hat and walks past the waiting Queens undetected, demonstrating how May escaped Celia in disguise.

Dorothy and Ngaio visit May's sisters, who reveal May made an unrecorded secret trip to London before traveling to Brighton.

Agatha contrives a chance meeting with nurse Celia McCarthy, who reveals May was secretly dating a wealthy, well-connected man.

The Queens trace May's expensive dresses to an insurance firm, discovering that its principals are Louis and Jimmy Williams.

Dorothy is attacked outside her home when a stranger shoves her into heavy traffic, nearly killing her.

Back in Boulogne, the Queens find a locker key hidden in May's purse and retrieve her final letter from a station locker.

Jimmy Williams is convicted of May's murder, and the Detection Club enthusiastically welcomes all five Queens of Crime as full members.

Five female mystery writers—Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Emma Orczy, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham—are excluded from the male-dominated Detection Club and band together as the Queens of Crime. After crashing the Detection Club's initiation ceremony and being socially shunned, Dorothy proposes they solve the real-life murder of nurse May Daniels to earn their peers' respect. Their investigation takes them to Boulogne, France, where they uncover critical clues about May's disguise and secret movements that police had overlooked. Following a trail of expensive dresses and theater connections back in London, the women identify the Williams family as key suspects and link them to May's death. A violent attack on Dorothy signals they are getting dangerously close to the truth, and a return trip to Boulogne yields May's own letter confirming the dark circumstances of her murder. The Queens ultimately force a confession, see Jimmy Williams convicted, and win their rightful place in the Detection Club.

The Queens of Crime investigate and solve May Daniels's murder.

Dorothy arranges a murder mystery game at the University Women's Club to evaluate Emma, Ngaio, and Margery as potential recruits.

During the Detection Club initiation, Dorothy inadvertently recites the oath she wrote alongside the president, earning dirty looks from male members.

At a police press briefing in Boulogne, Dorothy notes that May's purse was found containing only her identification, with everything else removed.

Mac is reassigned to cover another story while newspapers begin publishing unsubstantiated theories that May was involved in the drug trade.

The Queens inspect the train station bathroom where May disappeared and can find no alternative exit or means of escape.

A pharmacy shopkeeper reveals May asked for anti-nausea medication, and autopsy rumors describe massive blood loss beneath her body.

Among May's belongings, Dorothy finds two expensive dresses, theater tickets, and a clipped article about missing violinist Leonora Denning.

Police receive a written confession to May's murder but dismiss it as a hoax without questioning the man who found it.

Dorothy and Agatha visit Agatha's sister in Manchester, where they learn that Jimmy Williams was born illegitimately and is excluded from elite social circles.

At a party, Dorothy and Agatha meet theater producer Basil Dean, who invites them to see the show Cavalcade as his guests.

Dorothy and Agatha visit backstage at the theater and meet Sir Alfred Chapman, who mentions the Café de Paris where Leonora Denning vanished.

Emma presents secretly obtained police files on missing violinist Leonora Denning while the Queens visit Dorothy at her cousin's country home.

The Queens review the Leonora Denning files and discover she was last seen speaking with Louis Williams at the Café de Paris.

The Queens use Margery as bait to lure Louis Williams into a hotel room, where they confront him with a compromising photograph.

Miss Bennett, Sir Alfred's secret lover, reveals his manipulation of her and pushes him down a flight of stairs, killing him instantly.

Before the Queens can investigate together, Dorothy must recruit her fellow writers and test them through a carefully staged murder mystery game at the University Women's Club. The investigation in Boulogne uncovers physical evidence and witness accounts that male police dismissed as trivial, including clues about May's health and testimony omitted from official reports. Back in London, a box of May's belongings reveals connections to the theater world and to a missing violinist, opening a vital new thread in the case. The women follow this thread through social encounters at Agatha's sister's home and at the theater itself, gradually closing in on Louis Williams and his associate Sir Alfred Chapman. A set of secretly obtained police files on the missing violinist confirms a pattern of predatory behavior, and the Queens devise a trap using Margery as bait to confront Louis directly. The dramatic final gathering ends with Sir Alfred's death at the hands of his own secret accomplice, Miss Bennett.

The investigation's key discoveries, encounters, and dramatic confrontations.

Agatha agrees to join Dorothy in founding an exclusive female writers' group to protest women's exclusion from the Detection Club.

Dorothy chastises the Queens for nearly being arrested at the ferry building and urges them to rely on their perspective as women.

Dorothy grows furious after discovering that her husband Mac published sensationalist articles implying May was responsible for her own death.

The Queens speculate that the large amount of blood found beneath May's body was caused by a miscarriage or a failed abortion.

Margery's nursing contacts describe May as diligent and drug-free; Mr. Marks reveals May had a furious argument with a man in the park before frantically writing several pages.

Celia McCarthy reveals that May traveled to London alone before their Brighton trip, directly contradicting what May had told her own sisters.

Dorothy visits Louis Williams posing as an insurance customer; he unknowingly confirms he was supposed to attend Cavalcade but was called away.

The Queens confront Dorothy and Agatha for pursuing theater leads and meeting Louis Williams without consulting the rest of the group.

Dorothy's cousin Ivy is revealed to be the secret foster parent of John, Dorothy's illegitimate son born before her marriage to Mac.

May's hidden letter reveals she was assaulted by an unnamed man, pressured into an abortion by her married lover, and believed her life was in danger.

Dorothy returns home to find an anonymous letter threatening to expose her secret son unless she drops the May Daniels investigation.

Mac reveals that Jimmy Williams has ties to organized crime and that Sir Alfred Chapman also has deep criminal connections.

Louis Williams insists he was never intimate with May and had no knowledge of a pregnancy, forcing the Queens to reconsider who fathered her child.

Dorothy convinces the Queens to approach the case as mystery writers and plan a classic gathering of suspects to draw out confessions.

Dorothy protects Miss Bennett by claiming Sir Alfred fell accidentally, then forces Jimmy to confess to police by threatening to frame his son Louis.

The Queens of Crime are formed not just to investigate a murder but to fight back against the systemic exclusion of women from professional life. As the investigation deepens, the women grow personally invested in May Daniels's story, with Dorothy drawing direct parallels between May's vulnerability and her own hidden past as an unwed mother. Key revelations repeatedly shift the investigation: a witness places May in a furious argument on the day she died, Celia's account contradicts May's own story to her sisters, and May's private letter ultimately reveals the full horror of what she endured. Personal stakes escalate when Dorothy receives a threatening letter connecting her secret son to the investigation, demonstrating how far the killers will go to protect themselves. A crucial confrontation with Louis Williams forces the Queens to rethink their assumptions about the father of May's child, and Mac's revelation about criminal ties finally points them toward the right suspects. The Queens use their expertise as mystery writers to stage a confrontation that forces the truth into the open, and Dorothy's quick thinking ensures both justice for May and safety for Miss Bennett.

The revelations, turning points, and emotional shifts that drove the case forward.