title: Seven for a Secret
author:  Lyndsay Faye 
description: Starred Review. Faye once again skillfully evokes the early days of the NYPD in this gripping and moving sequel to 2012's The Gods of Gotham, an Edgar finalist. One winter evening in 1846, Lucy Adams, a free black woman, calls on copper Timothy Wilde at police headquarters in the Tombs for help. Lucy's sister, Delia Wright, and her seven-year-old son, Jonas Adams, have vanished from their Manhattan home. Wilde quickly ascertains that even though Delia and Jonas aren't slaves, men seeking to profit from capturing them are responsible. Later, Wilde is horrified to discover the still warm body of a murder victim in the quarters of his police-captain brother, Valentine, and removes the body to a shanty near the Hudson to protect Valentine from being implicated in the crime. As this episode shows, Wilde makes mistakesbut his fallibilities are at the core of his appeal, even as his doggedness and insights enable him to tease out what really has been going on beneath the surface. Simple but effective prose, a brilliantly constructed plot, and three-dimensional characters add up to another winner for Faye. Agent: Erin Malone, William Morris Endeavor. (Sept.)
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  **CHAPTER ONE**
  
  _**What’s Happened to the Secret Seven?**_
  
  PETER,  Jack and Janet were walking home from school one fine October day,
  when someone came skipping up behind them. It was Susie, Jack's sister.
  
  'Hallo, you three!' she said. 'What's happened to the Secret Seven? You never
  seem to have meetings now.'
  
  'Nothing's happened to the Secret Seven,' said Peter. 'Don't be silly.'
  
  Susie began to chant a little song just behind them.
  
  > > "The Secret Seven's falling to bits
  
  > > It doesn't meet any more,
  
  > > The only thing that is left of it
  
  > > Is the silly S.S. on the door!'
  
  _'Susie!_ You little horror!' said Jack, angrily. 'Singing like that in the
  street about the Secret Seven! Fa