A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

First Line: "You frighten me," the Gypsy said.

No, eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce didn't have a good experience having her fortune told in the gypsy's tent, but you could say that the woman didn't either since Flavia finds her bludgeoned body later in the victim's own caravan.

There are those who say the woman's death was retribution because they are convinced she was responsible for a child abduction years before. Now Flavia understands all about retribution due to the endless cycle of it on which she and her two older sisters exist. What she doesn't understand is how the two crimes-- one old and one new-- can actually tie together. And when Flavia de Luce doesn't understand something, she won't rest until she conducts a thorough investigation.

In this third book in the series, her family's poverty finally hits home to Flavia. In fact there's more family background altogether, especially for her mother and father, which cleared up some questions I'd had. Amidst all the gypsies, curses, stolen babies, stately home creepers, and the smell of fish is a well-paced, well-plotted mystery certain to delight all fans of this series. 

Another item that I was glad to make note of is that Flavia was mostly absent from that laboratory of hers. You see, no matter how well-paced, well-plotted, and well-written this book and the series are (and they are), this only child just can't warm up to it. The relationship between Flavia and those two torturous older sisters of hers just turns me off. Concocting potions to make her sisters ill, all three of them on a senseless hamster wheel of payback... if I was a child living in that house, I think I'd run away and join the circus.

So... although I can see the good and the charm of it all, I'm going to leave this series to its many fans. Long may it delight each and every one!
     

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

ISBN: 9780385343466

Bantam Books © 2011

Paperback, 432 pages

Historical Mystery, #3 Flavia de Luce mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen. 


 

The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse by Alan Bradley

First Line: I was peering through the microscope at the tooth of an adder I had captured behind the coach house when there came a light knock at the laboratory door.

Flavia de Luce is in her beloved chemistry lab when she receives a desperate note demanding her help to solve a murder. She can think of no better way to spend a Sunday, so she hops on her bicycle and pedals over to her father's old school. The sender of the note leads her to a bathroom where, sitting in a tub, is a naked dead man who-- except for his face-- looks as though he's made of copper. To Flavia, this is definitely a splendid way to spend the day, and she gets right to work to solve the mystery.

When I read Alan Bradley's first Flavia de Luce mystery, I wasn't sure I'd want to spend any time in the company of this little girl. She was just a little too passionate about chemistry and poisons. I could just see myself being invited over for tea and trying to come up with logical reasons not to eat or drink anything. However, Flavia is now my favorite eleven-year-old. I was hooked on this story the moment Gladys' tires began to hiss on the wet pavement. (Who's Gladys? Flavia's trusty bicycle.) By the time Flavia bemoaned the fact that modern detectives now have to spend time coming up with catchy titles for their investigations, I was lost. At the age of eleven, Flavia can out-Sherlock the great consulting detective himself, and I can't help but wonder what she's going to be like when she turns twenty-one.

"The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse" highlights Flavia's love of chemistry and her knack of observing the small, telling details that everyone else misses. It's a lot of fun to read, and marks a milestone for her-- but you'll have to read the story for yourself to find out what that milestone is! Never read a Flavia de Luce mystery before? This short story is an excellent way to "test the water."
 

"The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse" by Alan Bradley 

eISBN: 9781101884911 

Random House © 2014

Digital short story, 22 pages

Short Story featuring Flavia de Luce

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon 


 

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

First Line: I was lying dead in the churchyard.

Interrupted from imagining her own funeral, eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce meets the assistant of beloved puppeteer Rupert Porson. While trying to help the stranded pair get their vehicle repaired, one thing leads to another and Porson agrees to a couple of special programs at the church hall in Bishop's Lacey.

Porson comes to a sizzling end during the second show, and Flavia finds new meaning to her life and a spring in her step. Who would want to kill such a popular man-- and why?  It's enough to keep the budding mad chemist away from her concoctions and hard on the heels of a killer. Will Flavia be able to sort through all the secrets she discovers before the killer pulls her strings?

When I read the first book in the series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, I was charmed by the story and the humor, but I have to admit that thinking of the eleven-year-old main character sneaking around trying to poison her sisters presented me with a misgiving or two. Now that I've read this second book, those misgivings have disappeared, and it's all due to author Alan Bradley's characterization. The entire de Luce family has grown and developed in this second book, and Flavia's behavior is much better understood. In fact-- since her two sisters remind me a great deal of Cinderella's stepsisters-- I rather hope Flavia is successful with her potions. (And I'll have the pleasure of finding out by reading the other books in this series.)

It is pure pleasure to watch this little girl uncover evidence... clues... secrets... and then try to get the police to act upon her discoveries. She sometimes appears to be by far the most adult person in Bishop's Lacey and the surrounding area. I also love how she applies her reading and her scientific experiments to her investigation.

The wit, the humor, the twists and turns of the plot, and an incredibly bright little girl make these books a joy to read.

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

ISBN: 9780385343459

Bantam Books © 2011

Paperback, 400 pages

Historical Mystery, #2 Flavia De Luce mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet 

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Author: Alan Bradley
ISBN: 9780385343497
Publisher: Bantam Books, 2010
Paperback, 416 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery, #1 Flavia de Luce mystery
Rating: B-
Source: Purchased from Bookman's.

First Line: It was as black in the closet as old blood.

If you have an eleven-year-old sister whose passion is chemistry, it would not be wise to hogtie her and lock her in a closet. But if you're the older teenage sister whose own interests never stray far from your own appearance and romance, you may not realize that payback will be forthcoming... and a bit ugly.

Once Flavia picks the lock and clambers out of the closet, already plotting her revenge, we quickly learn that: it's the summer of 1950; the de Luce family lives in a huge ancestral pile called Buckshaw outside the village of Bishop's Lacy in England; Colonel de Luce seems to live for nothing but collecting postage stamps; and his three daughters are pretty much allowed to do as they please.

In Flavia's case, she spends a lot of time on her own in an ancestor's fully-equipped laboratory teaching herself all about poisons. (Just what you want every eleven-year-old to know about.) However, shortly after she escapes from the closet, strange things begin to occur. A dead bird with a postage stamp skewered on its beak is found on the kitchen doorstep. Then a very rude red-headed stranger has an argument with Colonel de Luce late at night, and mere hours later, Flavia trips over his dead body in the cucumber patch. Naturally Flavia's father is arrested for the murder, and the young girl is determined to discover the identity of the real killer.

I avoided reading this book for a while due to the avalanche of press it received when it was first published. I knew that I did want to give it a try, but the more a book is touted as the best thing since sliced bread, the more I hesitate to pick up my butter knife.

I did find the first-person narrative laugh-out-loud funny several times as Flavia described her adventures, and the mystery did have some meat on its bones so that it was not easily deduced. The characters in the surrounding small villages were quite well-done, too. However, Flavia's father and older sisters were too stereotyped-- and Flavia herself was a bit scary. Colonel de Luce needs to spend more time with his children and less time with his stamps. Flavia would welcome the attention, and it would keep her away from her Bunsen burners and lethal concoctions.

All in all, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was, for me, a fun, light-hearted way to spend an afternoon, but I failed to fall completely under its spell.

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