Starred Review Thirteen-year-old Penelope Tredwell is the secret author of spine-tingling suspense stories der the pen name Montgomery Flinch at thrill the readers of the 1899 London magazine she inherited from her parents. Her imagination, writing skills, and business management of her deceased parents' pulp monthly are impressive, yet a publicity stunt nearly brings the entire London literary world to a crashing halt after she hires an actor to give a public reading as Flinch. But the stakes rise even higher: after the inmates at Bedlam begin frantic, mysterious automatic writing at 12 minutes to midnight every night, the warden recruits Penelope and the actor posing as Flinch to investigate. The inmates write strange, fractured phrases, such as "Sputnik"; "at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina"; and "the Eagle has landed." Soon, clever Penelope discovers a plot to poison the inmates of Bedlam with spider venom in order to see the future. As if that were not enough, Penelope and Flinch also manage to rescue H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the entire reading public of London from a villainous young widow and scholar of arachnids. Debut author Edge has created an excellent mystery in a league with Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus, Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart, and Eleanor Updale's Montmorency series.

Orphaned heiress Penelope Tredwell seems like a proper Victorian girl, but she's secretly the author of the ghastly tales in her family's popular magazine, Penny Dreadful. When the mental patients in Bedlam begin writing strange visions of the future, Penelope is determined to investigate--even if it puts her in mortal danger. This well-crafted middle-grade mystery's plucky heroine recalls Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart.

It is 1899 Victorian England. Thirteen-year-old Penelope Tredwell inherited the Penny Dreadful literary magazine when her parents died. She makes it a success through the macabre stories she writes using the pen nameáMontgomery Flinch, since nobody would believe a thirteen-year-old girlácould write such stories. She even hires an out-of-work, drunken actor to pose as Mr. Flinch in public. One evening, they receive a letter from Dr. Morris,áthe physician superintendent of the Royal Bethlehem Hospital, commonly known as Bedlam, with a perplexing situation: at twelve minutes to midnight each night, patients arise as if in a trance and begin a writing frenzy on all surfaceswalls, paper, bed panswriting crazy, indecipherable phrases. He asks Mr. Flinch to visit the hospital and determine the cause. Penny, accompanying "Mr. Flinch," witnesses the mass hysteria. But can she solve the mystery?Edge has concocted a fun story. Penny is a gutsy character and, along with her friend, Alfie, seems up for any challenge. The story itself has some macabre twistsáthat keep readers guessing. Edge provides a glimpse of Victorian England and the horrendous treatment of the mentally ill at Bedlam, and name drops a few noted authors of the era. He has created a most evil antagonist. The description of the surroundingsdark, dirty, misty, foggy, drizzlyadd to the ghoulish aura, but it is Penny who carries the book and will attract middle school girls.Ed Goldberg.