The Lucky House Detective Agency – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Fun mystery friendship self-worth.
Children’s book title: The Lucky House Detective Agency.
Children’s author: Scarlett Li.
Children’s illustrator: Sian James.
Genre: Children’s fiction.
Published by: Knights Of.
ISBN: 9781915820051.
Recommended for children aged: 7+ year-olds.
First published: Paperback June 2025.
This children’s book is ideal for: children who enjoy solving mysteries while exploring diverse cultures and learning about friendships, rules, and consequences.
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Our review:
The Lucky House Detective Agency is a mystery story centred around two 11-year-old friends, Felix and Isaac. They live in Leighton-on-Sea, where Felix moved from Hong Kong at the age of two. Both spend a lot of time in Felix’s family’s Chinese takeaway, where the boys help out. When the family’s lucky money plant, Optimus, is broken, the boys decide to put their detective skills to work to find the saboteur. With the reluctant addition of Felix’s cousin Nina, the Lucky House Detective Agency is formed.
Most of the suspects are takeaway customers, whom Felix and his mother refer to by their orders, such as No-Peppers and Only Chips Please (because their names ‘all sounded the same. John. Tom. Joan.’). As the detectives start eliminating suspects, they discover a few things about these characters they hadn’t expected, realising there is more to people than their takeaway orders. Even know-it-all Nina turns out to be not so bad after all.
Throughout the book, we are immersed in the sounds and smells of the takeaway, with detailed descriptions of the delicacies and plenty of Cantonese words with helpful phonetic spellings so that readers can say them aloud. There is also plenty to learn about Chinese culture, including superstitions, customs, and traditions. Readers may be surprised to know that keeping silent throughout a meal and burping afterwards are signs of respect, or that tapping two fingers on the table is a way to say ‘thank you’ when someone pours you a drink. Some customs are more complex, such as ‘keeping face’, which comes up when Felix’s mother talks about his aunty and uncle. ‘Keeping face is part of Chinese culture, so others avoid embarrassment, to give each other respect. But your aunty and uncle take it to a whole new level.’ This has implications for the parental pressure placed on Nina, which will resonate with some children.
One of the nicest things about the book is the way the boys move between each other’s cultures with such ease. Isaac is Jamaican, living with his single-parent father, and the boys feel completely comfortable whether they are at Isaac’s house or in Felix’s family kitchen among the woks. This is a story about friendship and navigating the dynamics of feeling left out and of disagreements, especially around rule-breaking and risk. When Felix’s recklessness causes Isaac to get hurt, he is reminded that actions have consequences. Ultimately, however, the Lucky House Detectives find a way to solve the mystery by staying inside the rules. As Isaac points out, ‘sometimes the best way to figure something out is to make the rules work for you’.
Our verdict:
Aimed at KS2, we think The Lucky House Detective Agency is a fun mystery that will keep children guessing, while immersing them in Chinese culture and encouraging them to think about friendships, rules, and risks.
Many thanks to Knights Of for the review copy.
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