It took a lot of convincing to get me to start reading the Flavia de Luce series, which features an 11-year-old heroine. I was sure that the story and the heroine would be too cutesy, not my type of thing. The first incentive was seeing lots of good reviews, but especially this review for the first book in the series at Stainless Steel Droppings. The next encouragement was finding a nice copy of the second book in the series that featured a skeleton on the cover at my favorite book sale. But even then, I was still on the fence. Then I saw that the author is Canadian and I was looking for Canadian authors, so that cinched it. I found a copy of the first book in the series and read it.
And now I would not miss an entry in this series. So why do I still have a hard time defining what it is I like about the series?
Mainly I just love reading about Flavia and her adventures. She is so daring and so adventurous, entirely different from myself. The stories as told through her brilliant but still childish mind are very well done and very entertaining. Even though Flavia has not aged even a year in the five books I have read so far, and the occurrence of five murders in one small town is totally unrealistic, it doesn't phase this reader.
The series is set in post-War England, in a small town, and that background makes the stories that much more interesting. There is always some obscure information thrown in. Such as descriptions of poisons, and chemical interactions, and the parts of a church organ. Flavia's main interest (other than crime solving) is chemistry, and she is always willing to share that information with the reader.
The series is set in post-War England, in a small town, and that background makes the stories that much more interesting. There is always some obscure information thrown in. Such as descriptions of poisons, and chemical interactions, and the parts of a church organ. Flavia's main interest (other than crime solving) is chemistry, and she is always willing to share that information with the reader.
One thing I do not like in mysteries is cliffhangers. And this book does have a doozy of a cliffhanger. Fortunately I knew that in advance and deliberately held off reading this book until close to publication time for the sixth one.
The best thing for soothing a disappointed mind is oxygen. A couple of deep inhalations of the old “O” rejuvenates every cell in the body. I suppose I could have gone upstairs to my laboratory for a bit of the bottled stuff, but to me, that would have been cheating. There is nothing like oxygen in its natural form—oxygen which has been naturally produced in a forest or a greenhouse, where many plants, by the process of photosynthesis, are absorbing the poisonous carbon dioxide which we breathe out, and giving us oxygen in exchange.My reviews for the first four books in the series:
I had once remarked to Feely that, because of the oxygen, breathing fresh air was like breathing God, but she had slapped my face and told me I was being blasphemous.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
A Red Herring Without Mustard
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
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