Excellent characters, good pacing, good sense of place, good believable dialogue. When I grew up, this would have been a little dark for YA, but these days probably not. The villains, as they were in the first novel, are a bit over the top. SAlly and friends do some great detective work and Mackinnon the magician is an interesting character. But beware...Pullman doesn't go for a standard happy ending although the villains do get their comeuppance. There's a third in the series to which I'm looking forward.
This is the 2nd of Pullman's books about Sally Lockhart, Financial Analyst, feisty Victorian spitfire, and proto-feminist.
A client arrives at Sally's door. She's followed Sally's financial advice, but the company has gone bust, causing her to lose all her money. She's not angry at Sally - but she suspects fraud, and asks Sally to investigate.
Meanwhile, Sally's sort-of boyfriend, a photographer, has been asked to investigate a spiritualist who may have been divulging classified business secrets in her trances...
And Sally's best friend Jim finds himself rescuing a stage magician, who also claims to have psychic powers, from a couple of thugs at a performance...
Strangely, all these events seem to be interconnected... and seem to be pitting Sally, who's not one to back down from a challenge, against one of the wealthiest, most powerful - and most dangerous - men in Europe.
Fun mystery for everyone. A can't-miss for socialists.
Sally Lockhart is back. Defying Victorian sensibilities, she has gone into business for herself. When one of her clients loses a large sum of money in the unexpected collapse of a British shipping firm, Sally is determined to find out what happened. As she delves deeper, she finds powerful individuals holding the keys to the mystery, and they will stop at nothing - including threats on Sally's life - to shroud the truth.
