Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder

'The most fun I've had with a book this year. Every page is a delight' Stuart Turton, author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn HardcastleThey were a band of mysterious private detectives who lived beneath the streets of London...London, 1958. Elaborately disguised and hidden deep beneath the city's streets lies the world of Miss Brickett's, a secret detective agency. From traversing deceptive escape rooms, to engineering almost magical mechanical gadgets, apprentice detectives at Miss Brickett's undergo rigorous training to equip them with the skills and knowledge they will need to solve the mysteries that confound London's police force. But nothing can prepare 23-year-old apprentice Marion Lane for what happens after the arrest of her friend and mentor, Frank, on suspicion of murder: he tasks Marion with clearing his name and saving his life. Her investigation will place Marion and her friends in great peril as they venture into the forbidden maze of uncharted tunnels that surround Miss Brickett's. Being discovered out of bounds means immediate dismissal, but that is the least of Marion's problems... This is the first installation in a fantastical historical mystery series for fans of Stuart Turton's The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and Natasha Pulley's The Watchmaker of Filigree Street.

The most fun I've had with a book this year. Every page is a delight, the worldbuilding is wonderful, and the mystery got its hooks into me from the first chapter, Crackles with invention and surprise-the wondrous gadgetry, the moody settings, the endearing heroine and the struggles she's endured-and Willberg weaves it all together around a perfectly puzzling locked-room whodunnit, A tantalizing, steampunk-flavored mystery... Delicious fun!

T.A. Willberg was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her mother, after whom her protagonist is named, is a trained nurse who worked at the Institute of Race Relations during the years of apartheid. Her father is German and a mechanical engineer with a wildly inventive imagination, and certainly the influence behind many of the gadgets in the novel. She now lives in Malta with her partner.