I put a hold on this book after reading A Spy in the House, the first book in The Agency series, and lo, and behold, it became available on the day I finished Celia's House. This is the third of the four book series featuring Mary Quinn, undercover agent of The Agency. I haven't read the second book, but since this was an ebook from from the library. i.e. take it or get back in line, I guess I'm reading them out of order. So, let's see this entry lives up to the modest promise of the first installment.
My reviewer criteria. I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.
Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.
The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee C+
Like the first book, this is a penny dreadful sort of novel, with several loosie-goosey plots lines that sort of resolve themselves. In this installment, our hero, Mary, has been placed in Buckingham Palace to work as a maid in the royal household in order to discover who is stealing a number of semi-valuable items from the palace. Then there's the murder of a toff in a Limehouse opium den, who happened to be in the company of the Bertie, the Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria's oldest son. While this incident must be hushed up to the general public, Mary is in a position to learn that the opium-addled alleged murderer has the same name as her father, whom she had thought was dead, lost at sea. Could it be? She must find out, and so sets out to investigate both the murder, the murderer, in addition to her assigned mission. As well as another mission involving her sometimes-boyfriend, and a sewer tunnel under the palace. There is a lot going on in the story, all rather loosely tied together.
Mary Quinn is an engaging character who dares almost anything. I noticed that I often questioned the wisdom of what she dares to do, when I have a feeling that I never would have, if the hero was a male. I guess it's a touch of sexism when you find yourself thinking a woman shouldn't be doing dangerous/foolish things that a you'd have no trouble imagining a male doing. Or maybe you think a woman would just know better. Just a random observation.
This story lost points because it uses one trope that I really dislike. And that trope is, in Victorian era stories, including Queen Victoria, and/or Albert, and/or in this case, Prince Bertie, as active characters in the novel. It really bugs me how often authors like bringing historical royalty into their stories. I don't know why, except maybe to add some glamor to their story? In this story we have both Queen Victoria acting uncharacteristically, at least in my opinion, and poor Bertie, doesn't fare well in it, though I can't say how historically accurate his portrait was.
All that said, I guess I'll read the other two books when they become available. They get a passing grade, mostly on the writing and characters, certainly not on their plots.
Next week, a special edition listing all the books I read in 2024... Stay tuned.
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