The Clockwork Sparrow meets Downton Abbey
It's a bitterly cold winter in Yorke and Rose Raventhorpe and her butler Heddsworth are stuck with Rose's unpleasant cousin Herbert, and his equally horrible butler, Bixby.
When an orphan boy named Orpheus interrupts the Cathedral's Mistletoe Service, saying that his sister has been kidnapped, Rose vows to help. Solving the mystery will be a lot better than accompanying ghastly Herbert! But the investigation is more complicated than Rose has anticipated and will lead her and her butler friends through fancy tea-rooms, horrible factories, secret underground passages and more...
Fireplace pokers are much more dangerous than you might imagine . . .
It's bitterly cold in Yorke and Rose Raventhorpe and her butler are stuck showing Rose's ghastly cousin Herbert around the city.
During a service at Yorke's Cathedral, a young boy bursts in, declaring that his sister has been kidnapped. Soon Rose finds herself tangled up in a mystery involving fake antiques, a malodorous factory and a secret society of chimney sweeps.
Tea is brewing and so is murder.
This is an excellent addition to the popular genre of historical mysteries for children. Excellently plotted, with realistic and well-rounded characters.
