A Scottish governess arrives in Singapore to take up her new post, only to find a host of problems await that require her very unique skills in this award-winning and incredibly entertaining historical fantasy novel.

There has never yet been a crisis that Miss Leda Cassidy hasn’t been able to fix, be it a lovelorn young charge, perpetually distracted students, or an unruly and malevolent ghost. When she arrives at her new employer’s home and discovers the family is being terrorized by a vampiric spirit, she sets about righting the situation without delay.

But it seems that as soon as she puts one supernatural creature to rest, another appears to take its place. A woman’s work is truly never done, is it?

When she meets Mr. Kay, a widower whose greatest worry appears to be making matches for his twin daughters, she is happy to take a post that might provide her a bit of respite from her more “spirited” friends. But she soon realizes that the Kays are in far more trouble than she realized—and that her presence in their home might have put the family she’s grown to cherish in even more jeopardy. Will she be able to save them all before it’s too late, or has she finally stumbled upon the one problem she isn’t able to solve?

Miss Leda Cassidy is a Scottish governess who has accepted employment in the Singapore of 1895. Her charge, Sarah Jane, is the only surviving child of Captain Bendemeer. The Bendemeers live in an isolated house on the outskirts of Singapore that is reputed to be haunted, but Miss Cassidy is more than she appears to be as the spirit soon learns.

What starts as a straightforward historical novel takes a turn as it becomes obvious Miss Cassidy has hidden talents, and is much older and more experienced than she appears. Presented in three parts we have brief glimpses into Miss Cassidy’s talents. The first part deals with the Bendemeer family and the spirit haunting them. We learn about  Sarah Jane’s crush on a local Indian man that works for her father’s company - a totally unsuitable match for a young British girl in the 1890s - which leads her father to decide it is time to return to England without delay. But his decision infuriates the spirit and brings things to a head as Miss Cassidy teams with a ghost to deal with the spirit and help the Bendemeers.

With the Bendemeers off to England we move on to part two as Miss Cassidy takes employment with the wealthy Kay family to teach the women of the family to speak English. There is an impish entity in the family compound and eventually it lets in an ancient evil that kidnaps Mr Kay’s twin daughters. As Miss Cassidy, joined by her sister, attempt to rescue the girls we learn a great deal more about who - and what - Miss Cassidy really is.

Part three is something of an epilogue as we find out what happened to Sarah Jane after she left Singapore as well as Mr Kay’s twin daughter and their marriages as well as where Miss Cassidy ended up after the events of part two saw her depart Singapore abruptly. 

This is Ms Boey’s first novel and a very interesting one blending Western supernatural beings with Eastern ones in an intriguing mix. I enjoyed it immensely and look forward to more of her works. Luckily I have the sequel novel already and can’t wait to see what adventures Ms Boey has for us next time. Highly recommended ~~ Stephanie L Bannon