by Patrice Lawrence
 
We’ve waited ever so long. But the wait was so worth it. The Elemental Detectives, Marisee Blackwell and Robert Strong, are back on the case in the conclusion to Patrice Lawrence’s Georgian-London trilogy. Remember, they’ve already saved London twice: once from The Shepherdess who withered people in their sleep, next from a Chaos Monster who crushed everything in its wake like an adrenaline-fuelled descendent of (or should that be a precursor to) Godzilla. 
 
London is in peril again, foreseen in the dreams of the Dragon of Mary-Le-Bow Church. The power-crazed Guild-master, The Goldsmith, wants to resurrect a nightmare from history: during the Great Plague, the devilish Lord Gullin lured children to the Tower of London with a design to turn them into ratlings, ½ rat ½ human variegates, who would work as a “beast army” of spies. Stopped in the middle of his fiendish plotting, The Goldsmith is determined to pick up the pieces. Literally. Because first he will need to reassemble the shattered Cauldron of Coalescence…so as it can blend and meld the entire city to his will. Enter your trusty detective duo, fired up to do battle with monsters in all of their very many forms.
 
As ever, the Elemental Detectives plot is sublime, spiralling out into the city’s nooks and crannies, intricate, but always firmly anchored by Lawrence’s soulful characters. The mystery works perfectly as a standalone but young fans will also enjoy the return of familiar characters such as: Turnmill the water spirit; the Fleet Ditch Boar; Mistress Angry who looks after the ghosts of Hyde Park; magnificent  Red Rum; the endearing Red Guard Gang, a group of nimble-footed children surviving London’s streets and protecting each other’s hearts. All of the Elements are back, of course: the Fumis (air elementals); the Dragons (fire); the Chads (water); the Magogs (earth). Also back is the terrifying Haakon, the Creature Capture, a variegated assassin who embodies all of the cruelty and greed of London’s slave snatchers. As with all three mysteries there is a historical backdrop of Britain’s leading role in the slave trade. Robert (modelled on the real, 18th century teenager, Jonathan Strong), previously enslaved on a plantation in Barbados, is finally free. He carries the mayor’s letter of freedom in his pocket but he knows that liberty is always precarious, liable to be ripped away in a second, forever at the mercy of street kidnappers. 
 
For history geeks and history teachers, there is so much material to be indulged beyond the novel’s pages. We hear about the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London 1666 (questions are raised as to whether that fire really was started by a baker called Thomas Farriner…) And then there is Lawrence’s trademark embrace of ancient London itself, crafting a living, breathing topography. Discover underground rivers, hidden wells, the chop houses that kept the working class fuelled, St Mary-Le-Bow and St Bride’s churches, the Tower of London’s menagerie (known as the first zoo in London), the statues that peer and loom and murmur.  
 
Lawrence always succeeds in giving her middle grade readers generous reads, wonderfully gnarly plots with satisfying conclusions which also leap tantalisingly forward. This one ends with Robert meeting young abolitionist, Elijah and teaming up with him as shared orators committed to “telling the evils of the plantation”. We await that new series. Age 9-14, Paperback 362pp