Books by Ally Baker

"No one in the whole of the countryside could navigate a tricky puzzle better than Penny could," the narrator of the Penelope Finkle mystery, Passion in London,tells us on her way to tea with Penny. Their tea is interrupted by a local detective and an inexperienced police sergeant seeking Penny's expertise on a crime theycannot solve. By the end of the first chapter, the reader's mind churns with possible suspects involved with the mystery of a missing movie star. The narrator shares her limited information with the reader - enough to keep us wondering,but not enough to give away the plot. The author teases the reader with subtle clues shared out of the narrator's earshot, or with glimpses of the clues that Penny folds neatly and places in her purse. The narrator, the detective, and the young sergeant, follow Penny on a journey tothe outskirts of London to trace the clues that will lead them to solve the mysteryof the missing actress. However, Penny seems to be the only one who knows where they are going or why. Despite the young sergeant's irritation with Penny at every turn of the case, the narrator, who sometimes doubts Penny's antics, keeps our faith in Penny's expertise. As the mystery unfolds, Penny pushes the sergeant to a breaking pointand uncovers his secret. Toward the end of a story, Penny adds another twist to the plot when she interrogates an unknown family member of the missing actress. When we finally meet the culprit of the mystery, we are just as surprised as all of the other characters in the story. This fast-paced mystery is a fun read. In the end, we can't help but nod our heads with the narrator as Miss Penny Finkle ties up the loose ends of her logic.