When Mary is sentenced to the gallows for thievery at a young age, she is saved by the orchestrates of a school called Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls. There, she learns skills to help her become an independent woman until she is 17, when she is told the secret of the academy: the academy also includes a top secret group of female investigators, and they want Mary to become one of their agents. Eager to find a position she loves, Mary accepts, and her first assignment is to pose as a lady’s companion at a rich merchant’s house to uncover the secrets behind his sketchy trades. There are secrets around every corner, and Mary will need all her training to find the truth.

I love the premise for this book. Academies with ulterior motives are my favorite, and this one is no exception. Lee does a fabulous job of capturing the historical setting and especially honing the frustrations Mary feels as a woman of the time, whose options for a career are so limited. Mary is also biracial (half Chinese, half Irish), but can pass as white, and she has to be extremely cautious of anyone finding out because of how worse the prospects are for a woman of color. Lee tackles those harsh truths magnificently, and it’s great to see more diverse historicals that discuss race issues.

While I love the premise, the sass, and the surprising villain, I had a hard time really getting into the story. I did enjoy it, but I wasn’t dying to find out what was going to happen next. The mystery builds a bit slowly, and parts of it were predictable. However, I can definitely see others really getting into it, and I think it was mostly just not the best fit for me. I absolutely still recommend it, though, to readers who love a good historical mystery with top notch diversity, some flirty banter, and a surprise twist at the end.

Originally posted at The Forest of Words and Pages: http://www.forestofwordsandpages.com/2016/08/review-spy-house-y-s-lee/