Marion Lane and the midnight murder

Review by Booklist Review

This debut novel launches a new series set in 1958 London. Miss Brickett's Investigations & Inquiries employs an odd group of inquirers who use their unusual skills to solve crimes that have stumped Scotland Yard. They operate in secret tunnels that exist far beneath the city streets, believed to have been used by a group of alchemists practicing necromancy in the 1300s and later used for covert operations during WWII. A filing assistant is murdered within the underground complex and, given the agency's extraordinary security measures, it is certain that the killer must also work there. Marion Lane, a first-year inquirer-in-training, is drawn into the investigation when her friend and mentor is accused of the crime. Marion has always sensed something "deviant" about the tunnels: "A seething, visceral darkness lurked there." Using a mysterious diagram somewhat akin to Harry Potter's Marauder's Map, she uncovers a most unusual weapon of apocalyptic proportions. Fans of Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit might enjoy this, as well as teens graduating from J. K. Rowling, Eoin Colfer, and Philip Pullman.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Set in 1958 London, Willberg's assured debut, which is equal parts mystery and whimsical fantasy, plunges Marion Lane, a first-year apprentice at the shadow spy agency Miss Brickett's Investigations and Inquiries, into the case of Michelle White, a much-loathed filing assistant, who was stabbed to death with one of the agency's futuristic spy gadgets. The nature of the murder weapon leads Marion to believe that Michelle had incriminating information on her murderer. But when Marion's mentor and protector, Frank Stone, comes under suspicion, Marion has to muster her investigative skills and those of her fellow apprentices to prove Frank's innocence before Frank is sent to live out his days in the Holding Chambers, a forbidding prison for inquirers who have gone rogue. Willberg does an admirable job of worldbuilding, in particular Miss Brickett's, which exists in an underground labyrinth far beneath the streets of London. Two distinctive supporting characters, best friend Bill Hobb and handsome American love interest Kenny Hugo, compensate for others who fail to pop. Readers will be curious to see where Marion goes next. Agent: Hayley Steed, Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency. (Dec.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

In debut author Willberg's 1950s London-set title, a Publisher's Lunch "Deal of the Day," the eponymous heroine hunts for the murderer of one of her colleagues at Miss Brickett's Investigations & Inquiries when another colleague is framed. Not for claustrophobes; lots of scenes in London's secret tunnels.

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