Thoroughly enjoyed this intriguing mystery set at a boarding school for girls in an alternate reality steampunk Edwardian England. Our amateur detective, Maliha Anderson, is an outsider because of her Indian heritage, but it is her fierce intellect and self-reliance that serve her well as she attempts to unravel a conspiracy centering on an upcoming royal visit to her school. Maliha is a compelling character, wildly intelligent, emotionally self-contained, pragmatic about her place in society.

I confess that I find Maliha Anderson one of the most interesting or perhaps better 'compelling' characters I have read and this story provides an introduction to the young detective by telling the story of her first 'case' which is hinted at in what was the first in the series. What makes her unique is her level of self control. She has the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes combined with the almost sinister portrayal of Miss Marple as played by Joan Hicks. There is something of the predator in Maliha, even when shot at she runs towards the shooter because in that moment identifying them is more important in than getting shot. Half Indian and half Scots she is the perfect 'outsider' constantly observing and deducing, a genius so far beyond her peers and teachers and despised and bullied because of prejudice against intelligent women and bigotry faced by those of mixed heritage in a British Empire that stretches across the world and out into the solar system.