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Young Adult Fiction Mysteries & Detective Stories

The Agency 3: The Traitor in the Tunnel

by (author) Y.S. Lee

Publisher
Candlewick Press
Initial publish date
Feb 2012
Category
Mysteries & Detective Stories, Royalty, Historical
Recommended Age
12 to 18
Recommended Grade
7 to 12
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780763653163
    Publish Date
    Feb 2012
    List Price
    $19.00

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Get steeped in suspense, romance, and high Victorian intrigue as Mary goes undercover at Buckingham Palace — and learns a startling secret at the Tower of London.

Queen Victoria has a little problem: there’s a petty thief at work in Buckingham Palace. Charged with discretion, the Agency puts quickwitted Mary Quinn on the case, where she must pose as a domestic while fending off the attentions of a feckless Prince of Wales. But when the prince witnesses the murder of one of his friends in an opium den, the potential for scandal looms large. And Mary faces an even more unsettling possibility: the accused killer, a Chinese sailor imprisoned in the Tower of London, shares a name with her long-lost father. Meanwhile, engineer James Easton, Mary’s onetime paramour, is at work shoring up the sewers beneath the palace, where an unexpected tunnel seems to be very much in use. Can Mary and James trust each other (and put their simmering feelings aside) long enough to solve the mystery and protect the Royal Family? Hoist on your waders for Mary’s most personal case yet, where the stakes couldn’t be higher — and she has everything to lose.

About the author

Contributor Notes

Y. S. Lee was born in Singapore but brought up in Canada. She has also lived briefly in the United Kingdom. An academic with a PhD in Victorian literature and culture, she wrote Masculinity and the English Working Class in Victorian Autobiography and Fiction. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

Editorial Reviews

Victorian England comes alive again with Y.S Lee’s third novel in THE AGENCY series. Lee has a terrific knack of combining intrigue, romance, and mystery with the strong female character, Mary Quinn... Girls of all ages will enjoy the fast pace, the twisting plot, and most of all, the romance that awaits them.
—VOYA

Lee, as ever, paints an evocative picture of London life... Mary makes for a bold heroine (sometimes too bold for her own good), and her fans will want to find out how it all ends.
—Booklist

The series offers young readers a spirited introduction to Victorian London.
—Toronto Star

Full of interesting twists and turns, this beautifully crafted story will delight readers who enjoy mysteries set in times gone by.
—Through the Looking Glass Children's Reviews

Librarian Reviews

The Traitor in the Tunnel (The Agency, Book 3)

Mary is undercover at Buckingham Palace to discover the identity of a petty thief when the Prince of Wales witnesses a murder in an opium den that may involve her father. And when James Easton, an engineer and former romantic interest of Mary’s, is hired to make the sewers beneath the palace safe, he discovers someone is making illicit use of the sewers, putting the Queen and her family at risk.

Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Best Books for Kids & Teens. Spring, 2012.

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