Book review: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book (the first in a series) is based on a clever premise: what if there was a female detective agency and what kind of women would be part of that effort? And off we go, launched into the story. A young woman, Mary, is headed for the gallows but is rescued by the head of the all female detective agency. Mary is educated, trained, and given her first assignment. Who would suspect a woman, after all?
Whatever the reality is, the book’s premise is a fun one, and it enables the author to write convincingly about Mary’s background and the era, one where the role of women is extremely circumscribed, with few outlets for a strong, smart woman.
I really didn’t want to start yet another series (my TBR pile is yet again out of control), but the first book, at least, is a quick read, as the series is geared towards YA. It is also a fascinating read of the role of women, the historical period, and of Mary herself. I highly recommend it!



View all my reviews

Book review: The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford

The Case of the Missing Moonstone (The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, #1)The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love the premise of this first in a series of YA mysteries: Ada Byron (the daughter of Lord Byron) and Mary Godwin (the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft) form the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency as young girls. Ada is better known as Ada Lovelace, sometimes referred to as the world’s first computer programmer and known as a brilliant mathematician, and Mary is better known as Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. The author takes slight liberties with the timeline, having the girls only 3 years apart in age as opposed to 18, but this allows the girls to be contemporaries and friends and allows the author to portray their very different personalities and temperaments.
Other historical personages that make appearances in this book are Charles Babbage, Charles Dickens and Percy Shelley.
In addition to the interesting premise, the mystery is interesting and engaging, and the book is well-written.
If I had to describe the book (and presumably the series), I would say it is similar to the Encyclopedia Brown series but geared towards girls.
The book is a quick read for adults but if you are interested in Ada and Mary and the lives they might have lived, this is the book for you!

View all my reviews