The Agency: A Spy in the House (Review)

Earlier this year I read The Agency: The Body in the Tower by Y. S. Lee which is the second in this series and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't generally like to read a series out of order--but the first book was MIA at the library and I couldn't find it anywhere. Then, apparently the library ordered a replacement and A Spy in the House showed up in my hold requests.

It didn't really hurt the story much to have read these out of order. It was nice to go back and find out how Mary got her start at The Agency and to see the beginnings of her relationship with James Easton who investigates things as well. In A Spy in the House Mary is on her first assignment...a training assignment that is not supposed to prove too dangerous but should allow her to hone her skills for the future. She is set up as a companion to the daughter of a man suspected of smuggling artifacts into England. Her job is to pick up any information she can glean from his conversations at home. But Mary, being Mary, soon exceeds her instructions and winds up breaking and entering his warehouse, rescuing James from a burning building, and getting mixed up in a secret wedding. Being a novice, she makes mistakes, but it is refreshing to have a main character who does that--rather than showing Mary off as the perfect undercover agent.

I had a good time reading both of the novels in this series and look forward the next installment. The Victorian time period is my favorite and I'm always up for another mystery series set in this era. I give A Spy in the House three and a half stars for a good, solid debut to this series.