Well this was a delightful read I was not expecting!
Set in post WWII London, Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries is an underground, off the radar institution that solves crimes for the people of London. They’re highly effective and highly illegal. Trained detectives called Inquirers work to solve the crimes the Police can’t. Marion Lane, a first year appreciative wants to be one of these Inquirers and is on the right track until someone ends up dead and her only familiar presence within the agency is framed for the murder. It’s up to Marion to try and uncover the murderer.
This is such a fun and imaginative story and is said to be perfect for Harry Potter fans. While I am a Harry Potter fan and this could currently be a fabulous series, I think that depiction of the story is wrong and that it’s really more in it’s own league. It does have a ‘magical school’ vibe though, even though it’s not school aged characters.
I kept thinking that this book was going to include magic but it’s mainly just engineered items that the agency uses. Since this is set in post WWII London, a good many of the inventions talked about in this book could certainly be seen as magic. Even without the magic aspect though, this book is certainly a magical read.
The setting is great. The story is great. The characters have just enough depth for this type of story to really draw you in. Plus I love a good mystery and this was surely that.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good detective novel! If you like secret societies, alternative history, magical schools, amateur sleuthing shenanigans, borderline-science-fictional gadgets than this book is totally for you!
I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder. Huge thank you to Park Row for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.
This would be a fun read!
I think you’d really like it!