Iona Rangeley Books

This story features Cecily Sawyer, an only child of parents who run a hotel in the city, and whose life is only made interesting by her reading of spy books such as, ‘The Art of Careful Disguise.’ The school holidays mean that the only friend that she has is on holiday, something not afforded to her because her parents are so busy at the hotel. Instead, she spends all day in her bedroom, finds herself befriending one of the many mice that is plaguing the city, looking for anything suspicious in the guests or their suitcases. Boredom sets in when one evening, a strange couple arrives for dinner with her parents, an unusual occurrence in itself.

However, the following morning, her parents have disappeared and Cecily finds herself needing to put theory into practice when it becomes clear that no one knows where they are at all. At first, Cecily looks for signs in her parent’s bedroom, only to find a secret room that reveals that they in fact, spies, and an old photo reveals some clues that Cecily uses to start her hunting mission in the city, and it is a city with a very large mouse problem!

The first half of the book lays down the clues for Cecily and the reader, and they come together as she gets closer to her parents in an increasingly dangerous environment. Cecily will appeal to readers who like the idea of cracking codes, spy-inventions, observing suspects, and adventures within the underworld of a seemingly normal city.