The Thief and the Labyrinth by Alys Clare

WELCOME TO VICTORIAN LONDON AND THE WORLD’S END BUREAU, WHERE SHARP-WITTED SLEUTH LILY RAYNOR AND HER RIGHT-HAND MAN FELIX WILBRAHAM TAKE ON THE MOST FIENDISH OF MYSTERIES.

A missing girl. A charming thief. And a case that doesn’t add up.

November, 1882. American agents Henry and Johanna McClellan arrive in London on an urgent mission: track down Bruno Schmidt, a silver-tongued lecturer and suspected thief who has eloped with a young woman called Ava.

Ava’s powerful father wants her home — as discreetly and quickly as possible.

But the McClellans are strangers to England, so they take their problem to the World’s End Bureau and its two private investigators, Lily Raynor and Felix Wilbraham.

At first, the case looks straightforward. A runaway romance. A clever conman. A trail leading across Victorian Europe that should be easy to follow.

But Schmidt is no ordinary fortune hunter. He’s spent years plundering treasures from ancient Mediterranean sites, and the hunt for him draws Lily and Felix towards a secret about a labyrinth that’s lain undisturbed for millennia.

The deeper they dig, the less things add up. Is Ava really a victim? And what are the McClellans themselves so afraid of?

As the lies multiply, Lily and Felix start to realize that their clients’ secrets might turn this missing person inquiry into a deadly affair.

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