The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, No. 4 - The Case of the Perilous Palace

Ada Byron and Mary Shelley may not have known each other in real life, but in the fictional world of The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, they not only make the best of friends, they also make the best detectives!  This is another series (yeah, yeah, I know - I read what seems like hundreds of series books) that I have been thoroughly enjoying, and it is with much sorrow that this appears to be the last book in the series.  I have gone to the publisher's website, to Amazon, and even to the author's page, and there is nothing to indicate that there are any more books forthcoming in the series, which is a real shame. It seems like most publishers do not want an ongoing series any more, particularly for young readers and young adults.  Everything has to be finite, not continuing.  (sigh)

Regardless, that did not dampen my enjoyment of The Case of the Perilous Palace one bit! Of course, as this book opens, it seems as if the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency may be no more! Ada's grandmother has put an end to the detecting, sending Ada's maid away, firing her tutor, and forbidding Mary to set foot in the house ever again. She even has Ada's hot air balloon disconnected from the roof of the great house, much to Ada's despair. Gran has put her foot down and ended Ada's days as a detective once and for all. Of course, fate has other plans...

Enter: Baroness Lehzen, governess to Her Royal Highness, Princess Alexandrina Victoria. The Baroness has specifically sought out Ada and her detective agency to help the princess with a very delicate and confidential matter. Ada, of course, has to turn her down. I mean, her Gran did put an end to the detective agency, sent away her partner-in-detecting, and basically locked her in her room.  So how could she possibly help the princess?  Gran, however, is willing to make concessions if it will provide her granddaughter with such a high connection in society. Even if it means that once the case is solved, she will remove herself from the house and allow Ada to resume her life as it had been prior to Gran coming to stay with her.

Thus begins Ada and Mary's latest case. The only problem is, they aren't really sure what it is. The princess is watched literally every second of the day. Every word she writes, every things she says, every moves she makes is monitored, read, heard, and seen. So, how can she possibly tell Ada and Mary what it is she needs help with? And that, my friends, is exactly what makes this series so enjoyable to read. Ada's observational skills and understanding what is not said, while Mary's interpretation skills and understanding of the real world and society's expectations make these two the perfect pairing. Not only do they quickly figure out what the princess needs them to find, but they manage to find a way to get past the guards and break back into the grand palace to find it!

There's everything one needs to make a good mystery - hidden passages, secret codes, sinister villains, unexpected revelations, and perhaps the most surprising turn of events when a criminal mastermind from Ada's past re-appears to taunt the young detective. The only problem is - if there are no more books, how will we ever know if Ada and Mary finally locate their nemesis and put an end to her criminal machinations?  Surely author Jordan Stratford can find it within himself to write at least one more story, so that Ada and Mary can have a satisfying conclusion!  Or, perhaps Stratford leaves it this way so that we, the readers, can imagine our own endings to the detective careers of Ada Byron and Mary Shelley - or keep the stories going if we don't ever want them to end!

In any event, this fourth tale was just as fun and engaging as the prior three, and the series will be sorely missed.  There are so few really good young adult mystery series on the market today, and quite frankly, I find that depressing.  Whatever happened to the days when Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Dana Girls, Trixie Belden, Happy Hollisters, Tom Swift, Ken Holt, Judy Bolton, Cherry Ames, and so many others lined the shelves?  I guess mysteries just aren't the "in" thing with young readers today - I just hope that one day, it cycles back around and we see shelves and shelves of mystery series again!  The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency would certainly be at the head of the pack if it ever did!

RATING:  9 red-furred orangutans out of 10 for yet another great mystery to read and showing publishers that the mystery genre is still viable!