Book Review-Flavia de Luce Series

Everybody loves a good mystery, and one that has a 10 year old as the detective is bound to be interesting. Flavia de Luce is the main character in Alan Bradley's series of books, set in 1950s England.  She is 10 years old and lives in Bishop's Lacey, a small hamlet outside London where everyone knows everyone else.  Her family owns Buckshaw, a rambling estate, but because of the death of her mother 10 years earlier in a mountain climbing accident (when Flavia was an infant) the family has money problems.  (Her mother owned the estate and died without a will.)   Her father is a reclusive stamp collector who is letting his daughters, Ophelia, Daphne, and Flavia, grow up somewhat wild. Flavia's passion is chemistry.  One of her ancestors was a chemist and had a fully stocked lab in the west wing of the house.  Flavia spends quite a bit of her time experimenting there.  She also loves to solve murders (and for a small town, there are quite a few to keep her occupied.) With each book we learn more about the family circumstances in addtion to having the fun of watching Flavia solve crimes. I've been reading the audio book versions and the narrator is amazing.  She, of course, has a British accent, but her voice is somewhat childlike so the reader really gets the impression that Flavia is speaking. Great plots, interesting characters, amusing heroine.  What more could one ask for!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie By Bradley, Alan Read by Entwistle, Jayne 2011-01 - Random House Audio 9780307914200 Check Our Catalog It is the summer of 1950-and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. "I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life." "From the Trade Paperback edition." …More

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery By Bradley, Alan Read by Entwistle, Jayne 2010-03 - Random House Audio 9780307576415 Check Our Catalog From Dagger Award-winning author Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction's most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders …More

A Red Herring Without Mustard By Bradley, Alan Read by Entwistle, Jayne 2011-02 - Random House Audio 9780307576439 Check Our Catalog In this third installment of the bestselling, award-winning series, Flavia de Luce comes to the rescue when a Gypsy woman is charged with the abduction of a local child. Flavia must draw upon her encyclopedic knowledge of poisons--and gypsy lore--to prevent a grave miscarriage of justice. …More

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows: A Flavia de Luce Novel By Bradley, Alan Read by Entwistle, Jayne 2011-11 - Random House Audio 9780307879455 Check Our Catalog It's Christmastime, and the precocious Flavia de Luce--an 11-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving--is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces' decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern. …More

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Pirate King: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes By King, Laurie R. 2011-09 - Bantam 9780553807981 Check Our Catalog In this latest adventure featuring the intrepid Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, "New York Times" bestselling author Laurie R. King takes readers into the frenetic world of silent films--where the pirates are real and the shooting isn't all done with cameras. …More

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones By McCall Smith, Alexander 2010-02 - Center Point Large Print 9781602856851 Check Our Catalog The Unbearable Lightness of Scones continues the story of Bertie, a precocious six-year-old, and his dysfunctional family, -- in addition to favorite characters Big Lou, Domenica, and more -- as they all continue their daily pursuit of a little happiness. With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith has given us a clever, witty and delightful new novel. The Scotland Street series is chock-full of the good-natured charm and inventiveness that is Alexander McCall Smith's hallmark. …More

44 Scotland Street By McCall Smith, Alexander Illustrator McIntosh, Iain 2005-06 - Anchor Books 9781400079445 Check Our Catalog Bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith brings all the warmth of his extraordinary No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books and the Sunday Philosophy Club series to this witty novel chronicling the lives of the residents of 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh. Originally serialized in "The Scotsman, 44 Scotland Street is already an international sensation. When twenty-year-old Pat rents a room from handsome and cocky Bruce, she inherits some delightfully colourful neighbours: Domenica, an insightful and eccentric widow; Bertie, a five-year-old who's mastered both saxophone and Italian; and Irene, his overbearing mother. Pat's new job at a gallery seems easy enough. Her boss spends most of his time drinking coffee in a local cafe and discussing matters great and small, and Pat's duties are light. That is until she realizes that one of their paintings may be an undiscovered work of a renowned Scottish artist and she discovers that one of their customers may be in on the secret. Add to this a fancy ball, love triangles and an encounter with a famous crime writer, and you have Alexander McCall Smith's entertaining and witty portrait of Edinburgh society. …More

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