Monday, April 11, 2016

The Agency: Rivals in the City

Rivals in the City by Y.S. Lee, 2015 Candlewick Press

     Mary Quinn and James Easton have developed an understanding after the collapse of the Agency. But Mary is hesitant to allow James control over her life as his spouse. Victorian Englishwomen are their husband’s property and Mary’s radical upbringing leads her to strongly object.
     James hopes to allow Mary time to overcome her qualms. When a villain from their joint past returns, he is concerned not only for Mary’s safety, but also their hoped future together. Mary is asked to return to the all-female Agency for her part in the plot. But to continue protecting the man she loves Mary suggests they remain separate to minimize the chances of retaliation.
     James is hesitant to give Mary any time to make up her mind against him and manages to insinuate himself into her mission. 
     She discovers more than simply one extension of her past during the new case. A mystery from her personal history is answered by a Chinese pugilist who is strikingly familiar.
     She completes her final case for the Agency amidst much danger to both James and Mary herself. Mary faces the danger with more than her characteristic abandon and struggles to reconcile her past with the beliefs inherited from her eccentric education and the hope of a future. Directed at teen readers Rivals in the City concludes the Mary Quinn Mysteries. 

No comments:

Post a Comment