Mason and I get so excited when a new Flavia De Luce novel comes out! Actually, Mason just lets me read it as long as I periodically throw his favorite ball for him to retrieve. This is inside, not outside the house; I just have to tear my attention away from Flavia long enough to avoid lamps or other breakable objects with the ball .
Flavia De Luce is a precocious eleven-year-old British chemist who concocts poisons in her attic laboratory to retaliate for insults and torments she receives at the hands of her two older sisters. Flavia, also a curious and intrepid sleuth, outwits the murderers and the crime-solving police, as well as the adults she surreptitiously interrogates so expertly that they don’t even realize she has gathered important clues from them.
Alan Bradley did create Flavia as an eleven year old, but he writes these books for adults. They are laugh-out-loud funny and consistently interesting, not like any murder mystery you have ever read. The titles alone are enough to pique the interest of the very people who are going to love the books. I cherish each volume and wait for the next to be written.
Here are the titles in order:
1. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie –- 4/2009
2. The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag — 3/2010
3. A Red Herring Without Mustard – 2/2011
4. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows – 11/2011
5. Speaking from Among the bones – 1/2013
6. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches – 1/2014
7. As Chimney Sweepers come to Dust – 1/2015
8. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d – 9/2016
9. The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place – 1/2018
These books are amazing, and one of our favorite things to do it snuggle together and read them. Above is the most recent release, and below are all of the others in order.
Editors may receive samples and/or a share from purchases made via links on this page. All opinions are our own.