jacey | Booklog 94/2024: Jodi Taylor: The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal

This is the origin story of Lady Amelia Smallhope and Pennyroyal, butler of many talents. When Millie Smallhope’s brother George marries a fortune hunter and her family falls apart, she’s shuffled off to a finishing school. Trying to get her diamonds back from her sister-in-law, she comes nose to nose with a burglar who turns out to be much better at thievery than she is, and she ends up throwing her lot in with him – Pennyroyal – who just happens to have a time-travelling pod, and be a product of Butler school, though Millie suspects he learned all he knows in the nick. The two embark on a career as bounty hunters – err – recovery agents – and we follow their exploits, including where their story intersects with the St Mary’s crew of disaster-magnet historians, and the Time Police, especially Team Weird. This is very engaging, and I stayed up far too late into the night because I couldn’t put it down. Shades of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin with a time pod.