I was lucky enough to score an ARC of Y. S. Lee's second book in The Agency series (The Body at the Tower) last Fall. Shame on me for not reviewing it here. When I saw the third book, (The Traitor in the Tunnel), I scarfed it up. Now all I have to do is read the first book.
Fans of Victorian England will eat this series up. The period details are well drawn and in the third book the readers even get to meet Victoria herself!! Here's the set-up. Mary Quinn is a half-Chinese, half- Irish orphan who is rescued from a life of crime by The Agency, London's only all female private investigation operation. Mary gets a good education, room and board and training in detective skills. In
The Body at the Tower, she investigates a scam at an expensive building site and meets James Easton, a dashing engineer.
In
The Traitor in the Tunnel, Mary is assigned to Buckingham Palace to solve the mystery of small thefts from the Blue Room. While she is on assignment in the palace, a drinking buddy of the Prince of Wales is murdered in an opium den and the suspect just may be Mary's long-lost father. Mary discovers a secret tunnel - not on any of the palace maps - that leads to the new sewer tunnels and a project overseen by....James Easton! Romance, intrigue, an attempt on the Queen's life and an attempt to find and save her father keep Mary very busy in this third outing. And there is a promise of more to come and very interesting developments at the end of this book.
The Traitor in the Tunnel Y. S. Lee
Everyone's favorite Victorian spy is back!
Mary's now a full-fledged member of the agency. She thinks her first assignment is a bit well... boring. She's posing as a housemaid in Buckingham Palace because someone is stealing random trinkets from the Blue Room.
BUT! It quickly heats up-- a known rogue was murdered in a Limehouse opium den, right in front of the crown prince. They immediately arrested a Chinese opium addict. Mary convinces the agency to let her stay on at the palace to see if the man was actually guilty or arrested solely because he was Chinese. She doesn't tell them her real interest in the case-- he has the same name as her long-missing, presumed-dead father.
AND! To make matters even more confusing, James is back on the scene, working on the sewers under the palace.
I love Mary and her secrets and double life. I loooooooooooooooooooove the chemistry between her and James.
I initially thought this would be a series, and it wraps up deliciously, with all the loose ends tied but with the promise of new adventure on the horizon. BUT! We're so lucky-- there will be more.
I continue to adore the way Lee writes historical fiction. She paints her Victorian world so well and with so much detail (her description of the sewers is fantastic) but it never overwhelms or detracts from the actual story. I also really liked her portrait of Queen Victoria-- fun and stern mother with her family, but proper and commanding Queen when needed. Lee gives her depth and complexity, even though she's a minor character that doesn't get much page-time.
This is a series that just gets better and better. The mystery isn't as exciting in this one, but Mary's personal journey is.
Book Provided by... my local library
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Okay, I have this one from the library, but I haven't had a chance to get to it yet... I will do it soon! (I've actually been taking it to work with me all this week, just have been too busy to crack it open on my break...)
I love this book as well, and am also staying up way past bedtime. I can't wait to recommend it to my students this fall!