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darkelf105The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, Alan Bradley
This is actually the second book in the series starring Flavia de Luce, girl detective, snark, and chemist extraordinaire. The series is set in an idyllic English village circa the 1950's. Flavia de Luce, who is eleven and the narrator, is brilliant, well educated, obssessed with poisions, and lives in a rambling mansion with her chemistry set as well as a burning desire to know EVERYTHING. This series should be tooth-achingly sweet, but it's not.
Flavia is a very well drawn eleven year old girl. For all her brilliance and clever deductions, she still has moments in which her thoughts are very much those of an eleven year old child. She's also manipulative and brash and has a dark streak running through her soul. Actually she really, really reminds me of Courtney Crumrin.
Flavia's dark streak is what keeps me going in the series despite it being very, very formulaic and predictable. That and the books are just so darn charming. I think I like them because they're cozy and a little silly and remind in tone of James Herriot's books, of all things, well, except for the murder and whatnot.
All in all, very enjoyable and I'm surprised I like them so very much because I really don't usually read mysteries. I am looking very much forward to the third installment in the series, A Red Herring Without Mustard. (Plus, Bradley has the best titles. The first book in the series was called The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, which was actually the reason I picked it up. That and it was a lovely green color and had a bird on the cover.)
This is actually the second book in the series starring Flavia de Luce, girl detective, snark, and chemist extraordinaire. The series is set in an idyllic English village circa the 1950's. Flavia de Luce, who is eleven and the narrator, is brilliant, well educated, obssessed with poisions, and lives in a rambling mansion with her chemistry set as well as a burning desire to know EVERYTHING. This series should be tooth-achingly sweet, but it's not.
Flavia is a very well drawn eleven year old girl. For all her brilliance and clever deductions, she still has moments in which her thoughts are very much those of an eleven year old child. She's also manipulative and brash and has a dark streak running through her soul. Actually she really, really reminds me of Courtney Crumrin.
Flavia's dark streak is what keeps me going in the series despite it being very, very formulaic and predictable. That and the books are just so darn charming. I think I like them because they're cozy and a little silly and remind in tone of James Herriot's books, of all things, well, except for the murder and whatnot.
All in all, very enjoyable and I'm surprised I like them so very much because I really don't usually read mysteries. I am looking very much forward to the third installment in the series, A Red Herring Without Mustard. (Plus, Bradley has the best titles. The first book in the series was called The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, which was actually the reason I picked it up. That and it was a lovely green color and had a bird on the cover.)