2. Sally Lockhart from The Sally Lockhart Quartet by Philip Pullman

"On a cold, fretful afternoon in early October, 1872, a hansom cab drew up outside the offices of Lockhart and Selby, Shipping Agents, in the financial heart of London, and a young girl got out and paid the driver. … Her name was Sally Lockhart; and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man."

— The Ruby in the Smoke

At 16, Sally is a girl grounded in military tactics, bookkeeping, the stock market and the workings of a pistol. Orphaned after her father drowns at sea under mysterious circumstances, she comes across the mysterious phrase "Beware the seven blessings," which causes her father's secretary to literally drop dead. But what is its connection to her father's death? Teaming up with an amateur photographer and an errand boy, Sally tries to unravel the secret.