Hibernian moved up to third place in the Championship with a routine win at Palmerston.
The visitors went ahead in the opening minutes through Jason Cummings' low finish.
Liam Henderson coolly picked his spot with a shot before half-time, running on to a pass from Dominique Malonga.
And substitute Martin Boyle completed the scoring late on as he slammed home a smart, low cross from galloping full-back Lewis Stevenson.
The victory keeps Alan Stubbs' side 11 points behind runaway leaders Rangers, although they have a game in hand.
This was a sixth clean sheet in seven outings for the team from Edinburgh and goalkeeper Mark Oxley only needed to make one save of note, pushing a Derek Lyle header over his crossbar soon after Cummings had netted his seventh goal of the season.
Hibs defender Darren McGregor headed narrowly wide before Robbie Thomson saved well from Cummings.
But Thomson could do nothing to keep out Henderson's well placed strike on 41 minutes.
John McGinn was busy in midfield for Hibs and his deflected shot spun just off target prior to crashing a free-kick against the bar.
Stevenson charged forward to set up Boyle for a first-time finish from the edge of the penalty area and Thomson needed to make a fantastic save to keep out a similar effort from Sam Stanton.
Lineup, Bookings (3) & Substitutions (6)
Queen of the South
- 01 Thomson
- 04 Dowie Booked
- 05 Brownlie (Smith - 62' )
- 06 Higgins
- 23 Marshall
- 02 Kidd Booked
- 08 Millar (Heffernan - 73' )
- 16 Hutton
- 14 Jacobs
- 10 Conroy
- 09 Lyle (Oliver - 70' )
Substitutes
- 17 Pickard
- 18 Heffernan
- 20 Atkinson
- 22 Hooper
- 24 Smith
- 28 Oliver
- 33 Coogans
Hibernian
- 01 Oxley
- 02 Gray
- 04 Hanlon
- 24 McGregor
- 16 Stevenson
- 10 McGeouch
- 06 Bartley
- 18 McGinn (Carmichael - 79' )
- 03 Henderson (Stanton - 85' )
- 07 Malonga
- 35 Cummings Booked (Boyle - 73' )
Substitutes
- 11 Stanton
- 15 Insall
- 17 Boyle
- 21 Carmichael
- 31 Reguero
- 42 Dunsmore
- 51 Shaw
