Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Case of the Girl in Grey by Jordan Stratford
More adventures of a fictional Ada Byron and Mary Shelly as girl detectives.
4 stars
An excellent book on the continuing adventures of a young Ada Byron (later to be Countess of Lovelace) and young Mary Shelly who, breaking all kinds of Victorian rules, set up a detective agency together and proceed to solve crimes. In this story, Lady Mary Sommerville asks them to investigate the pending marriage of a young girl to a peer who seems very anxious to get his hands on her family's fortune. Also involved is a mysterious girl in grey seen running in the streets that may be related to the case. If you pay attention to the story, you may be able to figure out the solution one step ahead of the girls, but not by much.
This is the second book in the series that plays a what-if with Ada and Mary, born years apart in reality, were about the same age, met and set up a detective …
An excellent book on the continuing adventures of a young Ada Byron (later to be Countess of Lovelace) and young Mary Shelly who, breaking all kinds of Victorian rules, set up a detective agency together and proceed to solve crimes. In this story, Lady Mary Sommerville asks them to investigate the pending marriage of a young girl to a peer who seems very anxious to get his hands on her family's fortune. Also involved is a mysterious girl in grey seen running in the streets that may be related to the case. If you pay attention to the story, you may be able to figure out the solution one step ahead of the girls, but not by much.
This is the second book in the series that plays a what-if with Ada and Mary, born years apart in reality, were about the same age, met and set up a detective agency with the help of young Charles Dickens and, in this book, their sisters. It's a fascinating scenario and quite well done. You also see young girls who, acting against Victorian norms, set out to do something instead of acting like 'damsels in distress'.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series, with hints dropped by the author in this book, of even bigger events to happen in the universe of the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.