Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T.L. Huchu

I loved The library of the dead, an Alex Award winner 2022, and couldn’t resist picking up Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, the next in the Edinburgh Nights series. I wanted to see what Ropa, a tough ghostalker, her pet fox River, and her friends Jomo and Priyanka, would get up to next.  She has attracted the attention of Sir Ian Callender, Scotland‘s leading magician and has been given the opportunity to be examined as his paid apprentice. Unfortunately, she doesn’t meet the requirements of the Society of Sceptical Enquirers examiners and becomes an unpaid intern instead, leaving her to find a way to fund her family, her grandmother Melsie and cheeky little sister Izwi. Her friend Priya is working as a healer at Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, an exclusive clinic, and offers her a job investigating a baffling illness that Max Wu, a student at the Edinburgh Ordinary School for Boys has contacted. She needs the money, but her investigation will reveal dangerous historical secrets, a lost fortune and an evil spirit.

Ropa is a feisty girl who always puts her family first, finishing school early to earn a living as a ghostalker to feed her family. It is easy to relate to her bravery and her cheeky outlook on life told with witty repartee and observations about other people and incidents had me chuckling out loud. The plot surrounding the mysterious ailment that some schoolboys have contacted is intriguing and keeps the reader absorbed as Ropa and her friends fend off danger.

A fabulous group of characters and wonderful setting in Edinburgh plus great humour ensure Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is just as good as the first in the series.  Readers will want to follow Ropa in her next adventure in The mystery at Dunvegan Castle, the third in the series and may like The rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, and The sinister booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix, for their sense of place and fans of the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik will enjoy the dark academia.

Themes: Fantasy, Supernatural, Psychic ability, Ghosts, Libraries, Magic, Edinburgh (Scotland).

Pat Pledger