It took me awhile to get my hands on this Australian series, but I’m very glad I did. Ayesha Dean is vibrant new heroine in the teen sleuth genre, following in the vein of Nancy Drew. That is if Nancy Drew knew taekwondo and found mysteries at every vacation spot.

Obviously, she’s not an exact copy, but the similarities were prominent at first as she’s joined by two best friends, the stylish Sara, and the sporty Jess, and is raised by her semi-wealthy lawyer uncle who takes her along his international trips. But like I said, Ayesha is more proactive when she stumbles on a mystery using deduction and lock-picking skills to find clues. Not to mention kind as her desire to help strangers that get injured at museums help to lead her to her next suspect.

The first two mysteries, The Istanbul Intrigue and The Sevilla Secret are almost formulaic as both feature Ayesha teaming up with her friends, and the mystery involving ancient, leather-bound books relating to the Muslim history of the region. She also gets potential love interest at each stop even though it never goes beyond flirty jokes because the long-distance relationships never work out.

Side-note, Lum’s descriptions of the food, architecture and history are nicely woven into the story as well, giving readers a chance to experience each culture in their mind’s eye.

However, her third (and potentially final?) mystery in The Lisbon Lawbreaker breaks away from the formula as she’s on her own in Portugal for an internship and ends up on the other side of the law thanks to a bad case of amnesia. The danger racks up in each book, but this one was the most suspenseful one yet as Ayesha attempts to use her framed status to infiltrate the trafficking ring.

In case it wasn’t obvious from the covers, Ayesha is Muslim and Lum does an excellent job in casually expanding the representation of Muslim women with Ayesha’s portrayal as a kick-butt, fashionable detective whose daily prayers help clear her mind and center herself to solve the mystery. Seriously, look at these covers, she’s so chic!

I heartily recommend US and European readers to try and pick up this series if they can. You’ll get your mystery fix.