Mary Quinn has had her fair share of dressing up as a boy - but only to escape detection as a street child, growing up. Now, for her new assignment, she must re-assume the identity of a boy apprentice builder, Mark Quinn, in order to discover a murderer's identity. Dressing up again brings back a flood of bad memories from her childhood, as well as fears that those closest to her will discover her true identity as a half-caste. Mary tries to earn the other workers' trust, but it's harder than it would seem - especially when she can't help but be distracted by the poverty of others, the poor attitude of the workers, theft that may or may not be related to the murder, and an old friend who may have been more if time had provided the means. Mary must navigate throughout these diversions and more while attempting to unmask a killer without jeopardizing herself.
I was looking forward to this book after being so pleasantly surprised by the previous one in this series. This book was certainly different, but I still enjoyed it. For one thing, it focused more on Mary and her emotions than the actual mystery. And it was an entirely different atmosphere - riddled with thievery and danger, as well as discomfort and crude topics. Since the atmosphere of the book affects my feelings toward it, I didn't necessarily like this setting as much - I much preferred the comfort of the Thorold household. However, this was where the storyline was set, so I dealt with it. It shows the quality of Y.S. Lee's writing, that I was able to feel the emotions associated with the setting. I certainly learned a bit about life as a poverty-stricken boy in the 1800's - learn to deal with life and work through it.
Although the writing was good and the clues were difficult to decipher, I actually instinctively knew from nearly the beginning of the story who the murderer turns out to be. I don't know if it was something in the descriptions or if it was just the logical choice of character, but throughout the entire story, while Mary was collecting evidence and figuring out the meaning of certain events, the back of my mind whispered the name of the killer. I think the little bits of proof Lee left dangling for the reader were a bit too much. In A Spy in the House, I was completely surprised by the criminal - well, the first time I read it, anyway. I wish that surprise factor had been there in this novel as well. I like a story much better when it has a twist ending - well, as long as it still makes sense when compared with the rest of the story.
Something I found about this book is that there were too many characters involved. The names switched around and seemed interchangeable at some points - there were just so many. By the end, I think all the names were straight with the characters. However, I had it nowhere near that figured out towards the beginning, and even the middle. More character physical descriptions would have been appreciated - if I could associate a black beard with a certain person, for example, whenever the beard was mentioned, I could remember that certain character. That's just my way of remembering, I guess, but I find it works.
Overall, I found this book enjoyable and intriguing, perhaps just not as much as A Spy in the House. I would still read the next book, though; this one didn't turn me off the series. And I do want to find out what happens next with Mary, since this story left off on a cliffhanger on many aspects, much more so than the last book. I would give this book four stars. Although I didn't find it as good as the last book in the series, I still deem it worthy of that additional star that makes it 'great' as opposed to merely 'good'. I would suggest this story to anyone looking for a novel including a murder mystery, romance, or psychology.
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