Note: This copy of The Secret Detective Agency was provided by NetGalley.

The Secret Detective Agency scratches that cosy mystery itch that fans of Miss Marple and the Thursday Murder club will enjoy. The book is also a period piece, of sorts, as it takes place during World War II and follows Miss Jane Treen as she tries to figure out why some of her agents are turning up dead.

The story takes Jane Treen from her desk job in London to an idyllic and quiet village to follow up the trail of a dead woman who happened to be an agent under her purview. What follows is a cat and mouse game where things are not as they seem in this innocent village, where secrets are hard to keep and not everyone is as innocent as they seem. Add to that the strange occurrences that seem to follow Miss Treen and her partner, and host code-breaker Arthur Cilento, and we have an interesting mystery to unravel. As the story progresses we learn more about the nature of the work that Miss Treen engages in and the seriousness of the agent’s death is further highlighted with the backdrop of the War currently being waged.

The protagonist is likeable and the dynamic that Jane and Arthur develop, is something I quite enjoyed and look forward to reading more about in the, hopefully, more books to come in this series. As a murder mystery this first book had more of the former than the detective/sleuthing that one would expect of the latter, but for a cosy read it did the job as at no point did I feel the need to require a breather from this book. The story is easy to follow and the plot winds about just enough to keep one guessing as to the identity of the final culprit. That being said, we can only do so much with the information that is provided and the final reveal is a little underwhelming, and rushed, in my opinion.

I will definitely be reading more books in this series should they come out, and this book is a fun, cosy, and quick read for anyone who needs a pallet cleanser in their reading. Definitely recommended.

Rating: 3/5

Links:

• Goodreads: The Secret Detective Agency – Helena Dixon