The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl

By: Theodora Goss

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Mary Jekyll and the Athena Club foil a plot to unseat the Queen and race to save one of their own in this electrifying conclusion to the Locus Award winning trilogy that began with The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter.

Life’s always an adventure for the Athena Club...especially when one of their own has been kidnapped! After their thrilling European escapades rescuing Lucina van Helsing, Mary Jekyll, and her friends return home to discover that their friend and kitchen maid Alice has vanished—and so has their friend and employer Sherlock Holmes!

As they race to find Alice and bring her home safely, they discover that Alice and Sherlock’s kidnapping are only one small part of a plot that threatens Queen Victoria, and the very future of the British Empire. Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, Catherine, and Justine save their friends—and the Empire?

In the final volume of the trilogy that Publishers Weekly called “a tour de force of reclaiming the narrative, executed with impressive wit and insight” in a starred review, the women of the Athena Club will embrace their monstrous pasts to create their own destinies.

Critic reviews

"Narrator Kate Reading's intrepid delivery highlights the Athena Club's intelligence and tenacity as they race to save kidnapped friends—and the world. In this third adventure of Goss's supernatural historical series, brilliant young women with unique powers spring into action when their friends, Alice and Sherlock Holmes, are abducted in a sinister plot. Reading's varied pacing balances the perilous adventure and humor in Goss's storytelling, in which the action is frequently interrupted by comments from club members. Reading's characterizations evoke the humanity of challenging characters and illuminate the shared history and strong bonds between the friends. New fans of this series might enjoy this as a stand-alone, while returning listeners will be delighted by the ongoing exploits."

Beautiful novels

These stories are simply wonderful. They are original, and you can't help but love all of the characters. I truly hope there will be many more.

Love love love

absolutely amazing!! Love it all. I enjoy all the characters and their daring adventures.

3rd book in the Athena Club Society series

It was fun to “hang out with” these characters again, as another reviewer has stated. This is the 3rd book for the creation of and adventures with The Athena Club. It does leave the door wide open for more books, so I am wondering if more will come.
In this book there are a few separate adventures that all come together for a larger purpose. The writing style continues to move between Catherine telling about the ladies’ escapades/writing her book, and the ladies interjecting their opinions and commentary after the fact. Since they are speaking in their present, it does spoil the suspense as to whether or not they will come through the dangers they face. However, I continue to find Diana’s remarks good comic relief!
The story is definitely far fetched, even for the genre of fantasy, and “really gross”, as Diana observed, in certain parts. I could do without the gross details.
I do recommend this book if you have read/listened to the first 2 books and enjoyed them.
I think Kate Reading does a wonderful job voicing the many and varied characters.
I do hope another book more based in reality will be forthcoming, allowing the characters’ “magical” qualities to be the fantasy, but having more realistic action.

Fun conclusion to the series!

I’ve really enjoyed this series- I read the first two years again, and recently picked up all three as audiobooks. Great fun, and stays true to its concept all the way thru.

Really fun story

I wish there were more of these adventures. I loved this series so much and was sad to see it end. With the exception of a few swear words, it was a fantastic book. I love how the characters interject and give their opinions. What a unique way to write a story. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed this book. There was so much going on with each character that I need to read it again. I highly advise this book for anyone with an imagination. I hope the author decides to write more of them. Many more. I am sure that Mary and the girls could solve more mysteries and find more trouble. 🙂