Kevin Gordon forced a fine save from Mark Cairns after 20 minutes. Paul Hampshire slid the ball through to Gordon but his low effort was well held by Cairns at the near post.
But the Fifers were made to pay for this miss as Paul Ronald gave Queens the lead three minutes later. David Weatherston played the ball to Stuart Kettlewell on the right flank and the midfielder sent over a floated cross to the back post where Ronald netted with a well placed header from 8 yards.
Queens doubled their lead after 26 minutes following a goalkeeping gaffe from John Dodds. The keeper was robbed by Weatherston as he tried to deal with a pass back and the young striker had the easy task of rolling the ball into the unguarded net.
Weatherston made sure of the points with his second of the afternoon at the start of the second half. The young striker beat the East Fife offside trap as he raced on to Mark Ferry's ball before firing past Dodds.
Any hopes of an East Fife comeback were killed off midway through the second half when Sam Linton was shown a straight red card for a foul on Paul Paton.