Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1876) was an English mystery writer best known for her fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, whose adventures have appeared as short stories, novels, plays, films, and television series. Her most famous works include the Poirot novel Murder on the Orient Express (1934), the Marple novel Murder at the Vicarage (1930), and the standalone novel And Then There Were None (1939). Christie’s success as a writer made her a celebrity among her peers and the general public. She made news in 1926 when she disappeared for 11 days after her first husband asked her for a divorce. Christie died in 1976, having written 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections.

The Queens of Crime characterizes Agatha by her unglamorous appearance, which disguises her talents as an investigator, and by the drama surrounding her personal life. Throughout the novel, Agatha embodies a “frumpiness” that distinguishes her from her more glamorous counterparts, like Emma and Margery. She wears “sacklike” and “shapeless” clothing made of “dull fabric” in simple colors like “mottled brown” and “slate gray.” Agatha’s plain wardrobe disguises her many talents as an investigator. Dorothy describes her sleuthing skills as “unexpected,” “surprising,” and “astounding.” Dorothy’s “astonishment” at Agatha’s detective skills suggests that excellence can come from anywhere.

Despite Agatha’s simple exterior, her personal life is surrounded by drama. The novel takes place five years after the “infamous eleven-day disappearance” (2) that made her “the subject of newspaper headlines” (29) for weeks. At the beginning of the novel, Dorothy senses that Agatha is still struggling with the aftermath of the publicity, suggesting that others “cannot fully imagine the damage done to her confidence” (2) as a result of the scandal. As the novel progresses, Agatha begins to regain her confidence, and Dorothy notices a “steeliness in her tone harks back to the days before” the scandal (29) and “a shadow of the Agatha of old [flickering] across her face” (124). The novel suggests that the confidence Agatha develops as a result of the investigation allows her to work through the drama surrounding her personal life.

A mystery writer from New Zealand, Edith Ngaio Marsh (1895-1982) is best known for a series of 32 novels starring police detective Roderick Alleyn. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, she began writing after she moved to London in her mid-thirties. Her first novel, A Man Lay Dead (1934), was an immediate success. Though she was unofficially engaged in her early twenties, she never married and had no children.

The Queens of Crime characterizes Ngaio by her subversion of heteronormative expectations for women in the 20th century. Despite the significant differences between them, Ngaio develops a close friendship with Baroness Emma Orczy. The novel leans into historical speculation about Ngaio’s sexuality by highlighting her refusal to discuss it publicly. While the other women share details about their romantic lives, Ngaio is “cagily silent” and “remarkably closemouthed” about her personal life. Ngaio’s refusal to talk about her romantic relationships may reflect an awareness of homophobic prejudices in the early 20th century.

Ngaio’s “penchant for menswear” (27) likewise suggests a willingness to push the boundaries of heteronormativity. In the novel’s introduction, Ngaio wears a “brown tweet skirt suit—complete with a tie—that looks for all the world like a man’s pantsuit” (10), and she wears similar “pantsuits and pantslike skirts” (251) throughout the novel. While the other women wear feminine nightgowns to sleep, Ngaio wears “striped silk pajamas” (238). Ngaio’s refusal to conform to traditional expectations for women’s fashion reflects her modern nature.

Ngaio’s modern attitude leads her to bicker with Baroness Emma Orczy throughout the novel. Dorothy initially worries that their “unnecessarily fractious” relationship will complicate the investigation. Although Ngaio and Emma are “unable to stick to polite pleasantries” (214), Dorothy eventually realizes that these “spiky exchanges are simply their way of communicating” (214). The novel repeatedly refers to the “good-natured barbs” (229) and “friendly gibes” between Emma and Ngaio. This emphasis on the relationship between the most traditional and the most modern of the Queens of Crime reflects the productive diversity of the group.

Hungarian-born writer Emma Orczy (1865-1947) is best known for a series of novels and plays featuring the “master” of disguise known as the Scarlet Pimpernel. When she was three, her aristocratic Hungarian family fled their country estate, moving for several years between homes in Budapest, Brussels, and Paris. The family settled in London in 1880 after losing much of their fortune. Despite this, Orczy published under the name Baroness Orczy throughout her life. The Scarlet Pimpernel first appeared in a play of the same name that Orczy coauthored with her husband, Montague Barstow, which premiered in 1903. A series of novels followed, beginning with The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1905.

The Queens of Crime characterizes Emma by her aristocratic European background, which gives her a dignified, though sometimes arrogant, attitude. In the novel’s opening scenes, Emma wears a “full-skirted sapphire dress of a style popular two decades ago” (10) and a strand of “diamond-clasped pearls” (12). Throughout the novel, she wears her “silvery” hair in an “elaborate […] immobile coiffure” (226). Emma’s formal, matronly appearance matches her “proper and old-world” (214) heritage as a Hungarian-born baroness.

Emma’s aristocratic heritage brings a degree of privilege that makes her more confident than other women in the group. Dorothy notes that, “as a baroness, [Emma] occupies a rarefied space, and her position and title may well buffer her from the sorts of disparagement the rest of us have undoubtedly endured” (18). When Emma and Dorothy attempt to question a French police officer about May’s time in Boulogne, Dorothy is “rattled” by the officer’s suggestion that they’re “unworthy of his time and documents” (59). Emma, on the other hand, approaches the situation with confidence that comes with her rank, and “her shoulders square as if facing off against an enemy” (59). Emma’s aristocratic European background makes her braver in certain situations than the rest of the women.

Sometimes, however, this bravery can turn into arrogance. Dorothy repeatedly refers to Emma as “imperious,” an adjective that connotes superiority and unearned power. In addition, she notes that Emma “never tires of telling us” (157) about her privileged upbringing as the child of Hungarian aristocrats.