It was almost as good as book 1, but I didn't like the mystery as much. However, some of it may be because I was in a reading slump so I took a very long time to read it so it may have affected my enjoyment of the plot. Mika is still a really good character and I am Valdemar as a reluctant father figure stan. I am also very invested in their backstories and the underlying mystery, I do want to know more

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

Thank you so much @NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of The Queen of Thieves, the second book in the series “The Moonwind Mysteries” by Johan Rundberg.

Stumbling upon this series and getting approved for this latest book being translated was one of the best things that happened to me.

I absolutely adore reading middle grade fiction and it being a detective story in the ever-intelligent Mika gets to solve another mystery was such a treat. I can’t wait to read more adventures of Mika and Detective Hoff.

The second part takes the story of the children at the orphanage further and their desperate circumstances makes them super vulnerable to being caught in unfavourable situations. They could vet blinded and rightfully so by even a little hope about their futures.

The situation is crucial and especially when the people in power had so much hatred for these poor children.

Mika has to find the culprit who is luring the children away from the orphanage because they might be in danger. This sequel just as curious as the first one and it keeps you on edge throughout. One keeps thinking if the plan could go wrong or if it will be too late or anything worse may happen.

The growing friendship between Hoff and Mika was beautiful. Mika’s love for Nora is so special to behold. Her relationship with Amelia was worth reading too. The only thing I found missing was that there should be something well-thought off for the kids at the orphanage. They just can’t keep going on with their lives like this always. May be it will tackled in future in other parts of this series.

Lastly, it was such a good read on the whole.

How far would you go to protect your family? Mika returns for a second story in “The Moonwind Mysteries”, and faces the real-life application of that hypothetical question.

This second installment was as captivating as the first of Mika’s stories, and again kept the reader cheering for her success, hoping for Detective Hoff to get it right, and sympathizing with the supporting characters along the way. If you enjoy stepping back in time and experiencing another cultural era, this title is for you.

For a children's book this book is rather dark at times but I guess that's to be expected given the time period. I don't believe Miko has yet hit her teen years but the things she has to deal with are so heavy, she's trying to figure out who is taking children from the orphanage, as well as keeping a literal infant alive.
Despite the awful conditions Miko lives in I found myself rooting for this little girl. She handles herself so well and she's the champion that the other children desperately needed.

This historical fiction is about a group of orphans living rough in a Swedish orphanage in the 19th century. Mika is only 12 and tries to care for her fellow orphans, so she is understandably alarmed when some of the kids take up with a scam artist and one of the kids is sick.
This is a series and it would be interesting to see how they came to this point and what happens next. I felt so much sympathy for what the kids were facing. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Mika is back, and this time with a case that hits closer to home. Someone is luring kids away from the orphanage, promising a better life. Can what they promise be true?

As baby Nora weakens, and Mika is set up and forced to confront Henrietta, she'll have to choose. To stay where she's always been, or to take a chance on something new. Especially when what's being asked of her isn't exactly right.

I love this series, and I'm looking forward to the next installment! Quick, easy reads, though they're meant for children I fully enjoy them. I also look forward to sharing them with my kiddos, and introducing them to historical Sweden!

This exciting sequel is about a girl named Mika who lives in an orphanage in Stockholm, Sweden in the 1880s. Mika has a position of some responsibility in the orphanage and has no expectation that she will ever be adopted. She is worried about some of the other kids in the orphanage, who she believes are not going to school. Instead, the kids have found jobs and what they believe is a family, but Mika is suspicious and soon it turns out that she's not the only one who is suspicious of her friends' newfound benefactor.

This is the second book featuring Mika the 12 year old. I really wish I had read the first book first to better understand some of the references in this book. In this book we find Mika in a mystery. Some of her fellow orphans are not going to school or have just plain disappeared. When she tries to find out what happened she finds herself in danger. Due to some parts of the book I would say that it is better for older children age 10 and up. It will hold interest and keep children engaged. I think this would be a good required reading book for grades 7 and up.

This book focuses on the importance of finding people who care about you and sticking with those people rather than seeking out others with bad intentions and big promises. I enjoyed reading about Mika and seeing the lengths she went to to keep her fellow orphans safe. When her friends start going missing, she is determined to find them and make sure they live up to the potential she sees in all of them. The book showed that children don’t always make the right choice and can often let us down. Overall, I enjoyed this book. I found the plot intriguing, and it kept me interested!

This is a great series. It's like Nancy Drew meets Oliver! I liked the characters. They felt alive when I read them. Fantastic book and I have put it on my summer reading list for my students.

This is such a fantastic series [and I will be counting the days until the next book]; I am always nervous with book 2 in a series that started as strong as this one, but that nervousness was just silly and this was just fantastic and whew.

Mika is continuing her search from book 1 [let me say here, YOU MUST READ BOOK 1 before reading this], working at "The Chapel" [such an odd name for a tavern] and caring for all the orphans at the Public Children's Home and trying to live the best life an orphan can in 1880's Stockholm. And everything is moving along until she notices the older orphans acting shifty, sneaking out, behaving oddly and then Constable Hoff shows up asking about certain things that are happening in the city and Mika is afraid she knows what is happening and sets out to find the truth and save them all before the most horrible things happen.

This was just an amazing read. Mika is such a great character, the villain was very, very, villainy [I don't have much time for people who exploit children], and the story was both captivating and edge-of-your-seat crazy and filled with so much love and caring that you may or may not cry at times. This is a great read for adults and kids alike and if you enjoy reading with your kids, this is a great series for that [and if your kid or yourself likes to read alone, I HIGHLY suggest the amazing narrator Nina Yndis as she really brings the story and Mika to life here]. It is a great way to get your kids involved in reading books-in-translation and in both the past AND a world they may be completely unfamiliar with.

VERY well done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Johan Rundberg, A.A. Prime - Translator, and Amazon Crossing/Amazon Crossing Kids for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is set in 1880s Sweden and follows 12-year-old Mika as she goes about her chores and minds other kids at the Public orphanage. Her life is difficult, but she grows worried when some kids are starting to behave suspiciously, and then altogether disappear. Something is not right: she suspects they have skipped school and run away to become pickpockets. But as Mika starts to investigate, with a little help from an old friend from the police force, she soon finds herself in deep trouble.

I knew from Netgalley that this is the second installment of a middle-grade historical series, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying it tremendously! For sure I would have liked it even more if I’d read the first one but I could understand most of it. The pace was good and the setting in 19th century Sweden kept me interested all the way. I found Mika very likeable, and also believable, even when the adventures were really stretching credibility. Mika is a mature 12-year-old, no doubt wise beyond her years because of the hardships, and she has a sense of duty and integrity. There’s a very nice balance between being hopeful to improve her life condition and that of her friends and doing the right thing in difficult circumstances.

The book gets a little dark at times and so I would probably recommend it for older middle school kids. There are elements of suspense around Mika’s origin story, and I would love to follow her in the next adventure!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for review consideration.

This is the second in The Moonwind Mysteries, originally published in Swedish. It's such a heartwarming middle grade adventure story of friendship. I look forward to the next one.

** “Mika believes in coincidence, in theory, but she doesn’t think it’s as common as many people think. It often just depends on the angle from which you look at a situation. She remembers what she said to the chief of police last winter. Sometimes things do add up, even though they don’t seem to at first.” **

Originally written in Swedish, Johan Rundberg’s “The Queen of Thieves” is a delightful mystery that continues the story of a plucky 12-year-old heroine.

Mika is still helping to oversee the orphaned children while living at the Public Children’s Home in Stockholm. When one of the children goes missing, and another one begins to act suspiciously, Mika turns to her friend Constable Valdemar Hoff — who is investigating an uptick in pickpocketing — to figure out what’s happening to her friends.

When Mika determines the truth, she must decipher who can be trusted and what fate she truly seeks.

Rundberg does an incredible job of creating a plot filled with lots of suspense, as well as developing intriguing characters, including the spunky and daring Mika and the bumbling constable. He reveals the importance of paying attention and determining the truth behind a situation; protecting oneself; the value of loyalty; and having a sense of identity.

Fans of characters like Nancy Drew and Young Sherlock Holmes will love “The Queen of Thieves,” which is due out March 5.

Five stars out of five.

Amazon Crossing Kids provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

I didn't realize this was the second book in a series so I was a bit lost but did the research to get caught up to understand and I loved it. I read it with my kiddos who are hooked. Loved the pacing and the writing a lot. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author, thank you for the E-ARC!

It's always a delight to read a sequel that follows up better than the first book. Just like how I read The Night Raven in one sitting, it goes the same with The Queen of Thieves. I enjoyed this a lot. There is more character development and emotional involvement involved.

This second book of the Moonwind Mysteries series reveals a darker plot. There were numerous reports of theft, and it was suspected that children from the orphanage were involved. Then, the disappearance of one of her orphan friends, Ossian, just before he was going to be adopted, slowly opens up the mystery of the person behind the theft cases.

Why did I say it's getting darker? It's because in this book, Mika mostly does the 'investigation' by herself. Valdemar, the constable who became her partner in the first book, is not prominently featured. Despite this, they are still a great, dynamic pair here.

There has been a lot of development in Mika's character. She develops bravery to take bold steps, cleverness with her plans and resources, and she learns to accept things she can't control. Some of Mika's fellow orphan characters also have interesting roles here. I was drawn to the sweetness and hopefulness of their friendships.

This sequel also got better due to more emotion involved. There is a betrayal involved, and I admit it caught me off guard. I suffered from that as well.

The Dark Angel from the first book remains unanswered, and there are plot holes everywhere. But, I believe the journey still has a long way to go. While there are some plot holes, I still consider it to be a perfect read for middle grade. I hope the next sequels will be available sooner.

The second book in the Moonwind series. This book was mostly written about the characters and the plot was lacking a little. But that doesn’t make it less exciting. I loved the bond between Mika and Valdemar.

The excitement and mystery continue in this sequel to The Night Raven. I immediately enjoyed finding out what Mika was up to since I was already invested in and connected to her character. She is so adventurous and mischievous yet also so compassionate and invested in caring for those around her. The Queen of Thieves presents a new kind of villain while also focusing on the orphan children in Mika’s life. You also continue to learn a little about the secret of Mika’s history and the Dark Angel. Johan Rundberg is an incredible weaver of mystery for middle grade readers. On that note, I must give credit to A. A. Prime for her masterful translation of this incredible mystery. I don’t believe that just any old translator and certainly not software could maintain the excitement of the story.

The Queen of Thieves is the second book in a Swedish series that is being translated into English. We follow Mika, a young orphan who lives in an orphanage. She has history of helping the police and in this book she tries to help stop a woman who is a thief and has recruited other orphans to help pull off the heist.

I really liked this book! It was interesting and dark. I would suggest this for older kids since it does have a lot of dark topics. Mika and her fellow orphans go through a lot of hardships. I liked the ongoing mystery of who Mika is and her family that started in the first book. I liked the different relationships throughout the book as well. The mystery of the thief and the heist were interesting and kept me guessing.

Thanks so much to netgalley and Amazoncrossing for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! I hope this series keeps getting translated so I can read more of it!

Excellent middle grade novel!! Well written, lots of dramatic content to central the reader. It does have content worthy of discussion and some difficult themes which are foundational to the narrative. Note: I read book one in series first to establish the characters and thoroughly enjoyed it. Hoping for more adventures in the future. Would recommend to any middle grade reader wholeheartedly!