Unlikely Girl Becomes Spy Novels - What You Should Read Next

Because every girl wants to be the one that becomes a spy...

Y.S. Lee - A Spy In The House

Exciting, fast paced, and relatable, Mary Quinn, living in late 1800s London, is a young half Chinese woman working as a teacher in a girls school when she gets recruited to be part of "The Agency", a fully female spying organization responsible for stopping crime before it starts. A novice spy mishap wherein she unintentionally traps herself into a closet with a man starts her down the path to romantic situation, so we all might enjoy watching her work with, run from, and share an angry banter or two or twenty with James Easton, an up and coming engineer, who's chemistry with Mary is so real you will positively rejoice when he shows up in the next and next novels. 

Tasha Alexander - And Only To Deceive

Her husband dies, and Lady Emily Ashton is sad, sure, but she would have been more sad if her husband had actually been the love of her life. Bored in mourning dress, she starts to go through her husbands things and learns he really did love her, and also his death was less than the accident originally thought. Good thing Colin Hargreaves is there to help her investigate! She faints a lot, but speaks Ancient Greek and eventually even stands up to her mother, so heroine she is! 

Sarah Zettel - Dangerous Deception

Peggy gained my respect when at the start of the story, using only a fan, she beat her fiancé who was trying to take advantage of her in a garden shed. She's then faced with the prospect of either marrying her slimy would be molester of a fiancé or disappearing into King George's London court to work as a spy. Friends are few and far between, and card games are important as never before. If Peggy's corset doesn't kill her first, someone else might!

Anna Lee Huber - The Anatomist's Wife

Lady Darby's artistic talent of painting was greatly taken advantage of by her late and famous anatomist husband, who forced her to observe corpse after corpse being sliced and diced and to paint illustrations for his legendary book. Trying to recover emotionally and socially from her husband's death proves none to easy when she is recruited to assist in an unlikely murder investigation that happened at her own sisters house and steps away from where she had been walking. Sebastian Gage, investigator, is an unlikely ally, whom Lady Darby and readers alike gently fall for. 

Kathryn Miller Haynes - The Girl is Murder

It's the 1940s and Iris Anderson is 15 years old. Her father, a failing one legged private investigator desperately needs her help, though he doesn't know it. She becomes the self appointed legs of the investigative team, sneaking out of the house and away from friends, towards the solution to her father's case. This book contained a surprising insight into 1940s war veteran challenges, really touching my heart. 

Not surprising, each of these books is the first in a series. So step on the accelerator! You've got your work cut out for you! As would be expected with any series/saga/sequel situation, I found none of the follow ups held my attention as well as the originals. However, the initial books being so absorbing and with characters I appreciated so thoroughly, I was glad to see continuations, and just had to try them all, which I recommend to you too. 

Exception to aforesaid disclaimer: Y.S. Lee's Agency Series - I inhaled the first three whole and waited on hot coals for the third to arrive. Sorry everyone else.