Kate Milford

In 1810, Lucy Bluecrowne, twelve, is bored living ashore with her stepmother and half brother until two nefarious strangers identify her little brother as the pyrotechnical prodigy they need for their evil plan.

Marzana and her best friend, Nialla, are bored. In a city where normal rules don't apply, it seems that adventure should be everywhere, yet nothing exciting ever happens to them. Nothing, that is, until Marzana's parents are recruited to help solve a kidnapping that makes no sense. This could be the excitement Marzana and Nialla have been looking for--if they can crack the case without getting caught meddling. They gather a group of kid detectives...

"Set in the seedy underworld of nineteenth-century Coney Island during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, two orphans are determined to stop evil forces from claiming the city of New York"--Provided by publisher.