A missing girl. A charming thief. And a case that doesn’t add up.

November, 1882. American agents Henry and Johanna McClellan arrive in London on an urgent mission: track down Bruno Schmidt, a silver-tongued lecturer and suspected thief who has eloped with a young woman called Ava.

Ava’s powerful father wants her home — as discreetly and quickly as possible.

But the McClellans are strangers to England, so they take their problem to the World’s End Bureau and its two private investigators, Lily Raynor and Felix Wilbraham.

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At first, the case looks straightforward. A runaway romance. A clever conman. A trail leading across Victorian Europe that should be easy to follow.

But Schmidt is no ordinary fortune hunter. He’s spent years plundering treasures from ancient Mediterranean sites, and the hunt for him draws Lily and Felix towards a secret about a labyrinth that’s lain undisturbed for millennia.

The deeper they dig, the less things add up. Is Ava really a victim? And what are the McClellans themselves so afraid of?

As the lies multiply, Lily and Felix start to realize that their clients’ secrets might turn this missing person inquiry into a deadly affair.

My Review

I really enjoyed this book, though I have to admit I was initially unsure about the labyrinth element, but it wasn’t too distracting in the end. I like a bit of the supernatural – ghosts and such like – in a Gothic mystery, but I’m suspicious of something lurking underground or being hidden for centuries, in case it turns out to be a demon or a vampire. Luckily in this case it wasn’t either.

It’s 1882 and Lily Raynor and Felix Wilbraham run the of private investigation bureau known as the World’s End Bureau. Lily owns the business, while Felix works for her, though in reality they are more like work partners. Both would like it to be more personal, but are too afraid to admit it to one another.

Then Henry and Johanna McClellan arrive in London, and engage Lily and Felix to help them find a young lady called Ava. She’s an American who ran off with her lecturer – a man twice her age. His name is Bruno Schmidt and he’s an archaeologist from Vienna. Except in reality he’s a conman who plunders treasures and sells them to the highest bidder. He could even be a killer. Ava’s millionaire father has hired the McClellans to find her.

But why do the McClellands need the World’s End Bureau when they are also investigators? They say it’s because they don’t know London. But is that the real reason?

So Lily and Felix begin an exciting journey of discovery – and not just in the search for Ava. It will take them all over the country, and Europe, often to my neck of the woods. They are both very modern for the late 19th century, but that is what Felix loves about Lily. Her spirit and her independence.

I really hope there is a book 7 as I’d love to read more about Lily and Felix, but I have a feeling that this is the last in the series.

Many thanks to @ZooloosBT  for inviting me to be part of #TheThiefandtheLabyrinth #blogtour.

About the Author

Alys Clare is the pen name used by Elizabeth Harris for the Hawkenlye series of historical mysteries.

She lives in the English countryside where her novels are set. She went to school in Tonbridge and later studied archaeology at the University of Kent. She is the author of the Aelf Fen, Hawkenlye, Gabriel Taverner and World’s End Bureau Mysteries.

Goodreads:
www.goodreads.com

Purchase Links:
www.amazon.co.uk