Death at King’s Cross Review: A Darker, Grittier WWII Thriller That Hits Hard

Read time: 4 minutes

📱📖 Read on Kindle | 📃 336 pages
⏱ Duration: 5 hours
🏷️ Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
✨ ARC provided by NetGalley & Edelweiss

Book Blurb:

Set in 1941 London during WWII, DCI Lilian Wyles investigates the murder of a young woman at King’s Cross Station. With her former partner tied up in MI5 operations, she reconnects with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh, each entangled in wartime duties and separate mysteries. As their discoveries begin to intersect, a larger conspiracy unfolds involving black markets, stolen medical supplies, and naval secrets. Together, they piece together a dangerous puzzle in a war-torn world where every lead could come at a cost.

Let’s talk … murder!!!

After thoroughly enjoying ‘The Queens of Crime’, I couldn’t wait to start reading Rosanne Limoncelli’s second book in the series. This sequel is darker, grittier, and considerable less interested in playing nice. The cozy veneer, that was prominent in Book One, is entirely gone. In its place is a wartime thriller with teeth, power dynamics that make your skin crawl, the grinding indignity of being a woman in the Metropolitan Police in 1941, and the kind of institutional rot that feels uncomfortably timeless. I kept asking myself: What’s happening to Richard? How deep does MI5 go? How is Ngiao Marsh going to contribute from the other side of the globe? And how are these seemingly separate threads going to collide?

The best part about this book is that it quietly corrects its own predecessor. In Book One, there’s something deliciously fun but also slight stretch of imagination about the crime writing Queens being amateur sleuths, purely because of their writing experience. This book hands the baton back to the professionals. DCI Lilian Wyles and May carry this story, and the result is a sharper, more grounded thriller that feels true to the era. Lilian in particular gets a stunning character arc. Watching her navigate institutional sexism without flinching, choosing what’s right over what’s easy, made me want to stand up and clap in my reading chair. She’s a real historical figure and Limoncelli does her justice in a way that feels like a love letter and a reckoning all at once.

Difference between first and second book:

The four Queens are still magnificent, don’t’ get me wrong. But they are deployed with more restraint and precision in Book One. Dorothy doesn’t hold back. Agatha’s pharmacy subplot is quietly chilling. Even from New Zealand, Ngiao connects to the team spectacularly. Margery and Susana just dives in the midst of the whole story. The way their separate wartime threads eventually weave into Wyles’s investigation is genuinely plotting. If The Four Queens of Crime was a sparkling cocktail party, Death at King’s Cross is the morning after, when the real work begins. I didn’t expect to enjoy the sequel more than the original, but I absolutely did!

Would I recommend it?

If you are expecting cozy vibes, reset and revisit. This one leans firmly into thriller territory. Limoncelli has sharpened her craft with every page and this book is proof that a series can not only continue well, but actually improve. Read Book One first (trust me, the payoff matters), then clear your afternoon for this one.

Read Next: 5 Recommendations

• The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne Limoncelli (Book #1) — Start here. The charm and the setup pay off in ways that make Book Two hit harder.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz — If the meta-fiction of real crime writers in a mystery scratched a particular itch, this layered whodunit does the same thing with pure structural genius.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson (Josephine Tey series) — Upson weaves real Golden Age authors into her mysteries with the same careful reverence as Limoncelli; if you loved Lilian Wyles, Josephine Tey will be your next obsession.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott — Wartime France, moral complexity, and a thriller that takes WWII seriously as a backdrop rather than dressing. For readers who appreciated the unromantic view of the Blitz.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca — The true story of Grace Humiston, a real-life female detective who fought the system and won. If Lilian Wyles lit something up in you, this non-fiction read will finish the job.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy

What’s your theory?

The four queens are back, but this time, the real hero wears a badge. Did you know DCI Lilian Wyles was a real person? Drop a comment: which of the four queens would you most want investigating a crime alongside you, and why?

Book Links:

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🛍️ Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org
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