The Automobile Girls at Washington; Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies

It's 1910, and the Automobile Girls have arrived in Washington, D.C., where modernity and old-world intrigue collide. Barbara Thurston stands at the window of her host's Connecticut Avenue townhouse when she spots something that stops her breath: a stranger has slipped through the curtains, creeping through the shadows with near-sighted eyes fixed on something beyond her sight. He's whistling "Kathleen Mavourneen", and he's utterly unaware of her presence. Thus begins a summer of motorcar excursions through the capital's avenues, society luncheons with foreign diplomats, and the growing suspicion that charming attaches connected to the Russian legation may be more than they seem. The Automobile Girls navigate a world of class tensions and social climbing while uncovering hints of foreign plots that transform their adventure from a season of balls and automobile rallies into something genuinely dangerous. This is early juvenile fiction at its most delightful: young women who drive their own cars, ask questions boldly, and refuse to be mere wallpaper in a world of political machinations.