Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire! a Recipe for Trouble - by Sarah Todd Taylor

Book Synopsis

Baker by day, spy by night--Alice Éclair leads an exciting double life!

Alice Éclair is a regular 13-year-old girl in 1930s Paris, whipping up amazing pastries and sweets in her mother's patisserie, Vive Comme L'Éclair. But she also has a secret--she's been receiving mysterious messages with instructions that have sent her all around the city picking up packages, solving puzzles, even sneaking into fancy parties. And now she's received her biggest and riskiest assignment yet. She must pose as a pastry chef aboard France's most glamorous train, the Sapphire Express, and uncover an enemy agent before the train reaches its final stop. Lives depend on it! But none of the passengers seem to be who they say they are, and as the journey continues, Alice starts to suspect she may be in grave danger.

Armed only with her whisk, her wits, and her will to succeed, Alice must figure out who the spy is before it's too late!

Perfect for fans of the Mrs. Smith's Spy School for Girls series and the Enola Holmes Mysteries.

Review Quotes

Gr 5 Up-Alice Éclair is a precocious young teenager in 1930s France. She designs intricate iced cakes and treats at her mother's bakery in the center of Paris, while in her spare time she's an amateur sleuth solving various codes and puzzles. For over a year, an anonymous person has been leaving codes for her all around the city with each solution leading to the next clue. The latest clue directs her to steal from an unsuspecting socialite and become a chef on upscale cross-country train the Sapphire Express. Once on the train, Alice gets to work impressing the head chef while also trying to figure out which passenger is a spy smuggling documents. When Alice does find them, she realizes the true motives behind this mission have been hidden from her. Set just before World War II, this fast-paced series debut centers plucky young baker Alice in an action-packed story young readers will love. Compelling surrounding characters, mouth-watering food descriptions, and a plethora of twists and turns throughout will keep pages turning. VERDICT A series opener that will delight tween mystery sleuths while leaving them anxiously awaiting the next installment.--Charla Hollingsworth, School Library Journal

A young pastry chef turned spy in mid-1930s Paris boards a luxury train in order to steal papers from an enemy agent.
Thirteen-year-old Alice Éclair is an accomplished pa^tissie`re, creating cakes and pastries in her mother's pa^tisserie. She's also been receiving mysterious puzzles, codes, and sets of instructions in the mail. Someone is training her to be a spy-and she eventually deduces that it's her uncle Robert, who was believed to have drowned in the Seine two years ago. Now, at his request, Alice takes on a dangerous mission, boarding the luxurious Sapphire Express in hopes of stopping a German spy. She balances her pastry duties with her spying-somewhat conveniently at times. On the train she encounters an Englishwoman journalist, a pair of American jazz musicians, and a professor and his teenage daughter from England. Alice is clever, plucky, and accomplished, but a surprising twist reveals that, despite her uncle's advice to "trust no one," she may have made an error in judgment. Relying on her maman's motto, "nothing is ever wasted and nothing cannot be saved," brave, scrappy Alice refuses to give up on a mission whose critical importance becomes clear to her the more clues she uncovers during her dangerous and suspenseful journey through France.
Has all the elements of a marvelous story, including a clever, likable young hero with a strong moral compass.

--Kirkus

"A series opener that will delight tween mystery sleuths while leaving them anxiously awaiting the next installment."--Charla Hollingsworth, School Library Journal

"All the elements of a marvelous story, including a clever, likable young hero with a strong moral compass."--Kirkus

[Sarah Todd Taylor] deftly interweaves finely detailed descriptions of pastry-making skills and spycraft to conjure an intrepid heroine.--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Sarah Todd Taylor was brought up in Yorkshire and Wales surrounded by books and cats. She discovered the theatre when she was a teenager and was instantly hooked, appearing in over 20 musicals in her hometown as well as helping out backstage. In her spare time she likes to sing opera in wonderful dresses, and she shares her home with her fabulous husband, two guinea pigs and a hamster.