THE LEAGUE OF DANGEROUS YOUNG LADIES

A brilliant teenage detective and her friends race against time to save their genius teacher.

Rose Moriarty, the mystery-solving 16-year-old daughter of Professor James Moriarty and Irene Adler, encounters Clara Frankenstein and Count Christoph of the Carpathian Mountains, also known as Count Dracula. He wishes to employ Rose’s father to obtain a legendary orb that bestows destructive powers upon its wielder. On behalf of her father, who’s in hiding, Rose agrees to find the orb before it can fall into the hands of the evil Scarabeus and his legion of human/bug hybrids. In exchange, she demands a sample of Count Christoph’s blood, a key ingredient in a possible cure for Nikki Tesla, one of Rose’s teachers, who suffers from a terminal illness. Accompanying Rose is Sefina “Seffy” Moreau, daughter of eugenicist Dr. Moreau, who uses serums to create human-animal hybrids possessing characteristics that are useful in battle. Seffy and Rose need to face their traumatic pasts and partake in action-packed fights to uncover the location of the orb. Debut author Morgenstein provides brief hints of a rich backstory that’s never fully explained, making the novel often feel like a sequel to a book that hasn’t yet been written. Although the book is full of witty humor and inventive characters, as well as many references to Victorian literary figures, Rose’s circuitous path makes the plot feel disjointed and episodic rather than cohesive. Rose presents white, and Seffy is cued biracial.

An ambitious and entertaining if unfocused adventure.