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Katherine Woodfine's The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth is a London mystery for 9 year olds that begins in two very different shops on the same summer morning.
The first is Lim's, a little tea and spice shop in Limehouse, in the East End. Mei is fourteen and helps her mum and dad run it. She overhears them whispering about money someone is demanding. Then the cobbler pulls her aside with a strange warning for her dad.
The second is Sinclair's, the grandest department store in London. Sophie Taylor sells hats there, and today is her fifteenth birthday. The London Season is in full swing, so she's run off her feet with debutantes squabbling over pink hats.
Then a letter arrives for Sophie and her friend Lil. Someone wants to hire them. As detectives!
It's such a lovely read. Both worlds are described so well you can almost smell them. Spices, tobacco and the river in Limehouse. Rose, violet and melting chocolate at Sinclair's.
Mei is a great new heroine. She's shy, but she grew up on these streets and she knows exactly how to see off a gang of pickpockets. Her granddad (who she still misses every day) used to tell her about a sacred diamond stolen from the family's temple in China, and you just know that story is going to matter.
The friendships are gorgeous too. Lil is dramatic and generous and hopeless with money. She's also furious that girls aren't allowed in the staff boat race. Why should the men have all the glory? Billy and Joe are there as well, and Billy is a bit put out not to be invited at first.
Mei comes home to find the shop smashed up and her dad lying on the floor, beaten by a gang (he's bruised but alive). An elderly couple nearby died in a fire before the story begins, and Mei starts to wonder whether it really was an accident. Granddad's story includes a village attack where many people were killed. And Mei has to put up with whispers and nudges because her dad is Chinese.
It's all handled with real care, and a reader who loves a historical mystery with heart will be gripped.
This is the second Sinclair's Mystery and it looks back at the first one a lot, so it's best to start with The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow.
For another girl detective with a mind of her own, try The Ministry of Unladylike Activity. May Wong is ten, stuck at an English boarding school in wartime while her family is in Hong Kong, and determined to become a spy.
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