The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y.S. Lee

Get steeped in suspense, romance, and high Victorian intrigue as Mary goes undercover at Buckingham Palace - and learns a startling secret at the Tower of London.

Queen Victoria has a little problem: there's a petty thief at work in Buckingham Palace. Charged with discretion, the Agency puts quickwitted Mary Quinn on the case, where she must pose as a domestic while fending off the attentions of a feckless Prince of Wales. But when the prince witnesses the murder of one of his friends in an opium den, the potential for scandal looms large. And Mary faces an even more unsettling possibility: the accused killer, a Chinese sailor imprisoned in the Tower of London, shares a name with her long-lost father. Meanwhile, engineer James Easton, Mary's onetime paramour, is at work shoring up the sewers beneath the palace, where an unexpected tunnel seems to be very much in use. Can Mary and James trust each other (and put their simmering feelings aside) long enough to solve the mystery and protect the Royal Family? Hoist on your waders for Mary's most personal case yet, where the stakes couldn't be higher - and she has everything to lose. Hardcover, 373 pages Published February 28th 2012 by Candlewick Press ISBN 0763653160 (ISBN13: 9780763653163) The Agency 3: The Traitor in the Tunnel


As this is the 3rd book in the series, if you have not read any of the previous two, there may be some spoilers in this post, so read with caution.

So far this is my favorite book in the series. Of course this is the natural thing for most series because the characters and the world setting is mostly done in the first book. So we already have the established characters and just get to focus more on the plot of the story, which is a new mystery for Mary to solve.
This time the characters involved may be closer to Mary than she would have ever thought. It not only develops a story within the Royal court at Buckingham Palace, but one that leads to her own past and could possible answer questions about her life.
The suspense is knocked up a bit with a little more speed and urgency to keep the pacing as well as the combination of different questions she is trying to get answered leads to more than just one mystery to be solved. There is just a short introduction to set the setting of this mystery and some of the clues to what Mary will be looking for, with a twist.
Mary is a strong lead character, very intelligent and brave. She is forced to accept some things in her personal life and grows up a lot emotionally. She is a lot more admirable person that I would have been in her place.
There is also the romance factor, very cute and light. I give this one 4 stars