A Spy in the House

The Agency: Book One

*Winner, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre John Spray Mystery Award

*Finalist, Agatha Award for Best Children’s/Young Adult Book

*Finalist, Ontario Library Association Red Maple Award

*An American Library Association Popular Paperback for Young Adults

*A Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year

*An Arthur Ellis Award Best Juvenile Crime Book Nominee

Orphan Mary Quinn lives on the edge. Sentenced as a thief at the age of twelve, she’s rescued from the gallows by a woman posing as a prison warden. In her new home, Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls, Mary acquires a singular education, fine manners, and surprising opportunity. The school is a cover for the Agency – an elite, top-secret corps of female investigators with a reputation for results – and at seventeen, Mary’s about to join their ranks.

With London all but paralyzed by a noxious heat wave, Mary must work fast in the guise of lady’s companion to infiltrate a rich merchant’s home with hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the Thorold household is full of dangerous secrets, and people are not what they seem – least of all Mary.

Packed with action and suspense, and evoking the gritty world of Victorian London, this first book in the Agency series debuts a daring young detective who lives by her wits.

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Read an excerpt from A Spy in the House.

Read a deleted scene (spoilers ahoy!)

View the Agency’s international covers.