Jennifer P. (jenners) reviewed on 2/26/2010 + 121 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 4

1950s England. Flavia de Luce is many things: an aspiring chemist (who happens to have her own very well-equipped laboratory), a younger sister you need to be careful of (revenge on her sister Ophelia takes the form of poison ivy lipstick), and a fledgling detective. Her first detective investigation begins when she finds a dying man in her garden and watches him breathe his last breath and hears his final words: "Vale!" Of course, Flavia has more than a passing interest in the case as her distant and remote father is arrested for the stranger's murder. As she flies around the town of Bishop Lacy on her trusty bike Gladys, Flavia manages to stay one step ahead of Inspector Hewitt, much to his irritation and bemusement. However, Flavia does almost too good of a job unraveling the mystery of the dead man in the garden when she uncovers a decades-old crime that may or may not be related. Coming face-to-face with the murderer at long last, Flavia finds herself in a bit of a jam that may be even too challenging for her precocious intellect.

Like so many precocious girl detectives before her, Flavia lives in a world of her own making. Like Kate in What Was Lost, she is free to go as she pleases. Her mother Harriet died in a mountaineering accident when she was a baby. After his wife's death, her father retreated into his obsession with stamps and barely pays his daughters any attention. Flavia's older sisters are more adversaries than friends. Perhaps her closest friend is Dogger, the gardener and war buddy of her father. Yet Dogger is a bit off due to his war experiences, and Flavia is forced to consider him as a suspect during her investigation.

I loved how Flavia just up and did whatever she wanted: from concocting chemical experiments in her lab to breaking and entering. Flavia is a wondrous character but perhaps a bit unbelievable. I cannot imagine a real 11-year-old being as well-informed and educated as Flavia. But really who cares? All I know is that I quite enjoyed my time in Flavia's company. She amused me and was as daring and adventurous as I wish I could have been at her age. This book was a delight from start to finish, and I for one will be along on her next adventure, which is due to be released on March 9.

Oh, and as far as the mystery goes, this is one of those books where the character is the main attraction rather than the mystery itself. I suspect it isn't that hard to figure out "who done it" but that isn't really the attraction of the book anyway. The star of this book (make no mistake about it for fear of being poisoned!) is Flavia herself.

An Excerpt

It was all Ophelia's fault. She was, after all, seventeen, and therefore expected to possess at least a modicum of the maturity she should come into as an adult. That she should gang up with Daphne, who was thirteen, simply wasn't fair. Their combined ages totaled thirty years. Thirty years!against my eleven. It was not only unsporting, it was downright rotten. And it simply screamed out for revenge.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details