The WISE Agency

As much as I love reading The WISE Agency books, I still cannot figure out how the titles connect to the books. Same is true for The Case of The Curious Cook by Cathy Ace. There's a vague reference to a TV show called The Curious Cook, nevertheless this book was a gem as usual. The ladies of WISE are a varied group: Mavis, Annie, Carol, Christine and the dowager Althea.

When the Duke of Chellingworth (Althea's son) hires a bookseller, Bryn Jenkins, to assess water damage to some valuable books, Bryn reveals there are some strange things happening at his shop. Instead of books disappearing from his shop, someone is leaving books. This tantalizes Althea and she convinces the WISE women to investigate.

With their expertise in surveillance, the agency sets up cameras strategically located in the shop to discover who is leaving the books behind. While looking through the books, Carol discovers miniature drawings of scenes in Swansea. They look like the work of a famous artist, now dead. Lizzie Llewellyn has been missing and based on the amount of blood found at her cottage, believed dead - murdered by her brother. Her brother is serving a life
sentence in jail.

As half the WISE agency works to discover who is leaving the books, the others move on to discovering if the miniatures are indeed the work of Llewellyn and whether or not her brother killed her.

Authenticating art is always a tricky process and the investigators are thorough searching for the truth. I very much enjoyed this book as the story unfolded to a startling conclusion. It is well written and the characters are nicely drawn. You know you would recognize them if you met them on the streets in Wales.

For other books by Cathy Ace, click here.