THE CLOCKWORK SCARAB, by Colleen Gleason

The story: Sherlock Holmes's niece meets Bram Stoker's vampire-fighting sister in this kick-butt mystery set in steampunk London, 1889. The mysterious Ankh is trying to bring the ancient goddess Sekhmet back to life, and is killing bored young noblewomen to do it. Irene Adler, working for the Crown, has recruited the two very different young women to work as a team--so they'd better learn how to hang together, or they might both end up hanging separately!

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG-13; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG; Magic & the occult PG-13; GLBT content G; adult themes (murder, kidnapping) PG; overall rating PG-13 (Victorian writing style makes is a little more challenging for the MS set; good 8th-grade readers and up).

Liz's comments: I thought this one had it all: an interesting mystery, good character development, and strong, spunky female characters who still have to work to overcome their several weaknesses. There are two sequels to date: "The Spiritglass Charade", and "The Chess Queen Enigma"--and I will definitely be taking a look at those as well!