13-year-old Alice has been receiving mysterious coded instructions to do some spy work. In 1930s Paris, Alice knows that spies are always at work to protect France and counteract other foreign spies. Her own uncle was a spy until his death, and he taught her all about codes and ciphers. Alice receives a mission to board the famous Sapphire Express and steal some papers from a foreign spy. She is hired as a pastry chef on the luxurious train and begins to observe all the wealthy first-class passengers very carefully, looking for any suspicious behavior. Everyone is a suspect, but after some strange clues are revealed, Alice begins to wonder what is really going on aboard the Sapphire Express. 

I would have liked this book much better if Alice wasn't constantly lying. I mean, I know that a spy is obviously going to have to play a role and that includes lying to protect your secret identity or to gather information, etc... But she lies to her mother, lies to her friends, and is manipulative and deceptive without real reason. She lies when she could have told the truth and gotten better results. She manipulates people to get them to help her with her objective, when she could have just told the truth and asked them for help. There were a couple of places where she definitely needed to lie to protect herself as part of her spy work, but for the most part, all that deception was unnecessary. There was even a scene where Alice encourages her friend to lie to their parents. I would have liked this story much better if our heroine had a more strict moral code. Or at least don't lie to your own mother!!!

I really enjoyed the mystery and all the clues and codes. It's really fun to see how Alice's knowledge of pastry and confections helps her to solve the clues! I was delightfully surprised by the plot twists, and I was intrigued by all the different suspects. They are all hiding their own little secrets, and Alice has to figure out who is the actual spy, who might be a jewel thief, or who is just hiding a broken heart.

The writing is exciting, and the adventure has great pacing as we switch between cozy scenes in the kitchen and daring spy escapades. Overall, I really enjoyed this mystery!

To see all the instances of lying and the minor violence in this book, you can see details on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/alice-eclair-spy-extraordinaire-a-recipe-for-trouble-alice-eclair-spy-extraordinaire-1-2493884