Y. S. Lee The Agency: A Spy in the House (2009)
This is number one in a series about young women from the wrong side of the tracks who are taken in by a girls' school which is also a front for a detective agency. The heroine Mary Lang has been saved from the gallows, and turns her hand to working undercover in a merchant's home to sort out the mystery of smuggled goods and lost cargoes. She finds herself drawn into the affairs of the family and their milieu. Is anyone who they seem?
This was an enjoyable read - lots of nice bits about Victorian London and the engineering works on the Thames. It is set during a very hot summer so there is plenty of scope for gross descriptions of the smells and sights as well as for capturing the unpleasantness of having to wear so many clothes! There's a gorgeous love interest, James Easton, whose hard warm body the heroine first encounters in a wardrobe - nice touch, so to speak. The love interest is handled very discretely, and sets up the next book in the series nicely. Basically this book was like a heterosexual Young Adult Sarah Waters. I assume that this is a YA book?
My favourite bit was the disclaimer on the copyright page: "All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury."
This book suffers from a lack of proof-reading ('theives' e.g.). And on p.210 in my edition, something dire has happened to the division of speakers.
Rating: 7/10
I have now also read the second in the series, The Body at the Tower. I thought the period detail was wonderfully done but the narrative lacked both the liveliness and the stronger plot structure of A Spy in the House. Mary Quinn is sent undercover, dressed as a boy, to investigate a mysterious death at the building site of the Houses of Parliament (specifically at Stephen's Tower [Big Ben]). Rating: 6/10.
I have now also read the second in the series, The Body at the Tower. I thought the period detail was wonderfully done but the narrative lacked both the liveliness and the stronger plot structure of A Spy in the House. Mary Quinn is sent undercover, dressed as a boy, to investigate a mysterious death at the building site of the Houses of Parliament (specifically at Stephen's Tower [Big Ben]). Rating: 6/10.
If you liked this... I kept thinking about Fingersmith.
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