Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire! a Recipe for Trouble

December 2, 2024
Thirteen-year-old Alice Éclair prides herself on being an “expert pâtissière and France’s youngest and cleverest spy.” By day, she assists her mother at their esteemed Paris bakery; by night, she relishes in solving codes and engaging in covert missions. Though she has long sought to know the identity of her handler, she is stunned—and stung—to discover that her enigmatic supervisor is her beloved presumed-dead uncle Robert. Yet for him, she is eager to take on a vital operation against a slippery spy called L’Anguille, or the Eel, who is boarding an elite train: the Sapphire Express. Alice’s mission is to surveil the passengers and nab important paperwork before it falls into German hands—or so she thinks. Tension and believability are lacking in this adventuresome series starter; little is established about the historical or political context of the 1930s setting until the climax, resulting in unmoored narration. Taylor (the Max the Detective Cat series) nevertheless deftly interweaves finely detailed descriptions of pastry-making skills and spycraft to conjure an intrepid heroine. The cast cues as white. Ages 9–12. Agent: Joanna Moult, Skylark Literary.