Book Review-The Dead in their Vaulted Arches

Flavia is back!  That irrepressible 11 year old returns in The Dead in their Vaulted Arches This book has a decidedly different feel to it than the others.  Flavia's mother has been found and the story deals more with the family's reaction than to the accident (or murder) at the railway station.  Flavia does find some mysteries to solve, and gets to do a bit of chemistry, but most of the action takes place within the house.  Although there is not as much mystery solving on Flavia's part as in the other books, many questions are raised which leads one to hope that the series will continue. Although the feel of the book was different from the previous 5, it was still very satisfying.  Bradley's writing is as good as ever.  This is a book that should be read after the others.  I think it would be very hard to have a grasp of what was going on if a reader started with this book.

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches By Bradley, Alan 2014-01 - Delacorte Press 9780385344050 Check Our Catalog Poisoning prodigy Flavia de Luce's sixth brush with murder carries her back to the most consequential death of all: that of her long-missing mother, Harriet, whose returning corpse is promptly joined by another, fresher specimen. Harriet de Luce's three daughters have always been told that their mother vanished from the Himalayas back in 1941. Now her body has been recovered from a glacier after 10 years and returned to them. As she waits for for Harriet's coffin to be unloaded from the train bringing it home to Bishop's Lacey, Flavia is accosted first by Winston Churchill, who asks if she too has developed a taste for pheasant sandwiches, and then by a stranger who passes on an even more cryptic warning about the Gamekeeper and the Nide. The former prime minister retreats in good order, but someone pushes the stranger under the wheels of the wheels of the departing train. His death would be just the excuse Flavia needs for her latest murder investigation ... if she didn't have a bigger job to tackle: alleviating her father's sadness by using a cocktail of forbidden chemicals to reanimate her mother's corpse. …More

Other books by the same author.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie By Bradley, Alan 2009-09 - Thorndike Press 9781410419170 Check Our Catalog In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction. …More

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery By Bradley, Alan 2010-03 - Delacorte Press 9780385342315 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title 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 2011-02 - Thorndike Press 9781410434241 Check Our Catalog Camped in her horse-drawn caravan at Buckshaw, a young Gypsy woman is charged with the abduction-and then the murder - of a local child, and Flavia must draw upon her encyclopaedic knowledge of poisons - and Gypsy lore - to prevent a grave miscarriage of justice. …More

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows By Bradley, Alan 2011-11 - Delacorte Press 9780385344012 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. HPL patron:  #4 in the Flavia de Luce novels.  Young Flavia, 11 years old, solves mystery with sheer ingenuity, curiosity, and doggedness.  She is a whiz at chemistry and lives in an old mansion with her own chemistry lab. …More

Speaking from Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel By Bradley, Alan 2013-01 - Delacorte Press 9780385344036 Check Our Catalog From award-winning author Alan Bradley comes the next cozy British mystery starring intrepid young sleuth Flavia de Luce, hailed by "USA Today" as "one of the most remarkable creations in recent literature." HPL patron:  #5 and most recent of the Flavia de Luce novels.  Makes for good summer reading as they are engrossing, not hard and fun to read.  Do read them in order--- …More

Complimentary Reads

The Spellman Files By Lutz, Lisa 2007-06 - Thorndike Press 9780786294060 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title Meet Izzy Spellman, a 28-year-old private eye working for her family's investigative business--a family that puts the "fun" in dysfunctional--in this irresistible, laugh-out-loud debut novel. …More

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones By McCall Smith, Alexander 2010-01 - Anchor Books 9780307454706 Check Our Catalog Following the "New York Times" bestseller "The World According to Bertie," this delightfully wry series continues with an entertaining tale of some of Scotland's most quirky and beloved characters--all set in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. …More

The Widow Ginger By Granger, Pip 2003-08 - Poisoned Pen Press 9781590580578 Check Our Catalog It is 1954 and all is quiet at the Soho cafe where Rosie lives with her beloved Auntie Maggie and Uncle Bert--that is until the Widow Ginger pays a call. As Roger Bannister sprints into the record books by running the first four minute mile, The Widow Ginger, an ex-GI with ice-cold eyes, is planning to finish some unfinished business with his wartime partners, Uncle Bert and Maltese Joe. The 'liberation' of lorry-loads of U.S. Army stores on to London's hungry black market had kept all three men in clover until the Widow found his career cut short by a spell in a military prison. Now he is back, looking for his share of the profits and a little vengeance. Meanwhile, lovely local Romeo Luigi has troubles of his own in the form of a beautiful redhead who is proving unusually hard to get. And that isn't all: Uncle Bert falls out with Maltese Joe--never a healthy option--and, really terrifying, Rosie's best friend Jenny has started to pass out cold at school... The Widow Ginger follows further adventures in the characters introduced in Pip Granger's enchanting hit, Agatha Award nominated Not All Tarts are Apple. …More

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