The Agency: The Body at the Tower
In 1859, Mary Quinn takes on her second assignment for the Agency, a secret organization of female detectives operating out of a girls’ school in London. A bricklayer has fallen to his death from the bell tower of the House of Parliament, which is under construction, and Mary, disguised as a boy, accepts a job at the site in order to determine whether or not the man was murdered. She soon discovers a series of thefts from the site. Were these related to the suspicious death? And was Harkness, the engineer in charge, involved in any of the crimes? In the process of her investigation, Mary also encounters James Easton, her nemesis-turned-love-interest from the first volume of the series, who is inspecting the site for safety violations. Will Mary be able to solve the crime without revealing the Agency’s existence to James?
This is just as delightful as the first volume, A Spy in the House, and can be read on its own, even though it helps to have read the first book. Lee makes the sights and sounds of Victorian London come alive for the reader, and the banter between Mary and James is a delight to read.
