In an alternate London sometime in the 19th century (I think), Kim lives on the streets. When an obviously well to do man offers her five pounds to break into a traveling magician’s wagon and just look around, she can’t say no to such easy money. But, when she’s caught in the act because of the magical protections on the wagon, she realizes that this magician is more than just a street performer, and surprisingly, Mairelon offers to take her on to help him track down some items he was framed for stealing. So it’s off to the country they go, where some fake Druids may just have the magical objects they’re looking for.
This book is a ton of fun. Both Kim and Mairelon are enjoyable heroes. It’s pretty obvious early on that Kim has some special abilities, so it makes sense for Mairelon to bring her with him, and their interactions (as well as with Mairelon’s servant Hunch) are fun to follow. The country characters they run into are also a hoot.
There’s a sequel to this story that I have to track down – I’m definitely interested to see where Kim goes from here.