The Ruby in the Smoke (1985) by Philip Pullman

♦️ This story set in the 19th century of London. Mr. Lockhart, the co-owner of Lockhart & Selby, a shipping firm, was drowned with the ship he was on board. He left an only child, a girl of sixteen, Sally Lockhart. She received a mysterious letter, the content and source of which, she had no idea. It warned her of "the Seven Blessings" - what on earth was that? And for her to contact a Mr. Marchbanks. Puzzled, Sally visited Mr. Selby at Lockhart & Selby office to inquire around his father's death. But when she mentioned "The Seven Blessings", Sally, unknowingly, had started a chain of events. 

♦️ And that's how the story started, and after that, it unfolded in a very fast pace, that I soon forgot who's who. This is the kind of book that's best to be read in one sitting. Anyway, Sally was soon chased by a Mrs. Holland, a powerful villain who owned a lodging house in the London slump around the wharf, and was feared throughout the slump community. Luckily, Sally met two young men who would be her main allies and friends; they're a photographer called Frederick Garland, and Jim, an office boy at Lockhart & Selby. Between the three - and a handful of secondary characters - they swirled around the hunt of ruby from a maharajah from Agrapur, India, opium smuggling, Chinese secret society, along with puzzles over the cause of Mr. Lockhart's death.

♦️ Comments on Goodreads told me that this isn't Pullman's best, and I quite agree. The opening is quite promising: “Her name was Sally Lockhart, and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man.” That sounds like a good mystery, and Sally is a perfect character for it, a highly intelligent girl, who had been taught of independence by her father, and has aptitude in business. A villain was provided, as well as two prospects of allies (and perhaps a love interest). Fine! But then, the opium factor came in - the "smoke" in the title, and the story suddenly switched into a strange one. Apparently Sally had been exposed to opium, unknowingly, before, and now she has this recurrent nightmares about her father. She was told that opium could restore one's memory, and so she tried a dose to reveal the mystery surround her father's death. And... tada... she suddenly knows everything, or most of the mystery at least, after "waking up" from the dream, . Well, that's not how you do a mystery, Mr. Pullman! I was disappointed at this point. ♦️ I felt that, as a heroine, Sally did not do much in this case, neither solving the mystery (it's Jim who solved the puzzle around the ruby's hiding place), nor showing courage to save a friend from the enemy (Jim and Fred took the brunt of Mrs. Holland's thug). No, she's safe at home, taking opium. Yes, she later on confronted Mrs. Holland, and even the guy of the Seven Blessings (who was supposed to be the most dangerous man at that time), yet it felt underwhelming. Like I said, it's definitely not Pullman's best work, despite of the promising opening.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2