Audiobook Review | The Agency for Scandal

Love it when I accidentally find a book that I get totally lost in.

The Agency for Scandal
Laura Wood

An all-female detective agency righting wrongs at the end of the nineteenth century; infiltrating a scandalous upper class world straight out of Bridgerton and using their wit and bravery to unmask a villain.

Eighteen-year-old Isobel Stanhope is keeping a lot of secrets. There’s the fact that she’s head over heels in love with a Duke who doesn’t know she exists; there’s the fact that her family is penniless but nobody in society knows about it; and then there’s her job at the Aviary, an investigative agency run by women that specializes in digging up scandal on powerful men.

When Izzy finds herself pulled into a case that involves gaslighting, blackmail, and missing jewels, as well as the Duke who holds her heart, can she and her friends untangle the web of secrets and lies to uncover the truth and protect the innocent? And when the stakes are so high, what happens when the crush she’s been hiding begins to turn into so much more?

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I decided I needed a fun story for my commute to work and had a wee browse through my library’s offerings and stumbled upon The Agency For Scandal.

I’m honestly so glad that I did; this book was so entertaining and a joy to listen to, and I was always desperate to get back to it any time I had to press pause. It has a bit of everything, some romance, action, a secret female detective agency, and a mystery to be solved, all set within the Victorian era.

The characters were amazing. I adored the Finches, a group of women from different walks of life coming together to help other women. They are such an interesting bunch, and I hope that over the course of the series, we get to know them all a little better. It didn’t hurt that Harrie Dobby’s narration was fantastic and created such unique voices to the characters, effortlessly bringing everyone to life.

Izzy is our main character for this book. I loved how resourceful she was, I definitely got a little surprise when she went undercover, as she showed an entirely new side to herself. Her crush on Max was cute, I liked that even when she was on a job, she would still have a moment to herself if she saw him.

I thought Izzy and Max worked so well together; they had very good chemistry, so it was no surprise that Max started to reciprocate Izzy’s feelings. I loved their banter and that Izzy was not afraid to tell him what she thought, especially as the stakes get higher in the story.

To be honest, the banter and witty comments aren’t just between Izzy and Max; there is great chemistry between a lot of the characters, and it makes for a brilliant read. This book has a lot going on, but manages to stay pretty light-hearted and easy-going. It doesn’t try to misdirect in the investigation that the Finches are undertaking, but it still keeps the mystery until it needs to be revealed.

I am so glad I came across The Agency for Scandal because I wasn’t looking for it, but I ended up loving this story and its characters and I am so excited to get to the next book in the series.