It's December 1941, and almost Christmas, when a bomb falls on Deepdean School for Girls. May and Nuala are whisked away from the chaos and sent to stay with May's big sister, Hazel Wong, who is working at Bletchley Park.
Within seconds, they're thrown straight into their most dangerous case yet. A codebreaker has been shot in what appears to be a tragic accident - until a suspicious and top-secret message is discovered in his pocket. Was he a spy, working for the other side? Was the message planted on him? Most importantly - was this murder?
Worst of all, Daisy's big brother, Bertie Wells, is being blamed. It’s up to May, Nuala and their friend Eric to prove Bertie's innocence and solve the mystery. But Bletchley is a strange and secretive place, full of Britain's most ingenious minds. They'll need to watch, listen, and puzzle out the incredible, unthinkable truth…
March 1941. Britain is at war, and a secret agency called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up children as spies - because grown-ups always underestimate them.
Enter May, Eric and Nuala: courageous, smart, and the Ministry's newest recruits. They have travelled to London for spy training, and are staying on a quiet street close to the Ministry, home to an unlikely collection of people thrown together by the war.
One day, while exploring the bombed-out house at the end of the street, they discover something that should not be there. Something that was not there when the Blitz wreckage was first combed through. Something that has been placed there recently. A body...
Could this be the missing Ministry spy that Daisy Wells is on a dangerous mission in France to find? Or could it be someone else - someone a resident of the street wanted silenced . . . ?
1940\. Britain is at war, and a secret arm of the British government called the **Ministry of Unladylike Activity** is training up spies.
Enter **May Wong**: courageous, stubborn, and desperate to help end the war so that she can go home to Hong Kong (and leave her annoying school, Deepdean, behind forever). May knows that she would make the perfect spy. After all, grown-ups always underestimate children like her.
When May and her friend **Eric** are turned away by the Ministry, they take matters into their own hands. Masquerading as evacuees, they travel to Elysium Hall, home to the wealthy Verey family - including snobby, dramatic **Nuala**. They suspect that one of the Vereys is passing information to Germany. If they can prove it, the Ministry will *have* to take them on.
But there are more secrets at Elysium Hall than May or Eric could ever have imagined.
**And then someone is murdered...**
Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are taking a holiday on the famous Orient Express. From the moment the girls step aboard, it's clear that everyone in the first-class carriage has something to hide. Then there is a scream from one of the cabins, and a wealthy heiress is found dead. But the killer has vanished - as if into thin air. Daisy and Hazel are faced with their first locked-room mystery - and with competition from several other sleuths, who are just as determined to crack the case.
