alan bradley – Page 4 – Cannonball Read 17

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d – Precocious Mystery Fun Times

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley

January 21, 2019 by cheerbrarian Leave a Comment

This Alan Bradley series is one of my favorites to recommend to others. Light and fluffy I describe the protagonist as a young and plucky Jessica Fletcher, a la TV’s “Murder She Wrote.” At this point Flavia is a pre-teen and still using her smarts to solve murders in her village, and I find these books, and her, delightful. This is the 8th installment and it’s been over a year since I read the 7th. As murder mysteries go, they have become a little predictable, […]

The Blood of an Englishman

September 17, 2018 by Ellesfena 2 Comments

I love Flavia de Luce, the 11-year-old budding chemist living in the small village of Bishop’s Lacey in post-WWII England. Flavia uses her natural curiosity and scientific knowledge to solve murders. In The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, Flavia works to solve both the murder of a puppeteer. She soon finds it’s related somehow to the mysterious death of a young boy in her village that happened 5 years ago. This is the second book in the series, and it seems to take place […]

I still love Flavia, but I don’t know if that’s enough anymore.

March 21, 2018 by narfna 2 Comments

Sigh. When is the right time to give up a long-running series? Last I heard there were only going to be nine books in the series, but this is book nine, and no end in sight*? I’m just not enjoying them like I used to. Which is weird, because I still love Flavia, her family and friends and assorted hangers-on. But the mysteries and plots just don’t do it for me anymore. I find myself having a really hard time keeping my attention on them. […]

Precocity, Poison, and Pie

March 4, 2018 by Ellesfena 7 Comments

I think every review of the Flavia de Luce books contains the word “precocious” in it somewhere. Flavia is no ordinary 11-year-old. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first book in this mystery series, and introduces chemistry whiz, poison-obsessed Flavia, her widowed father, her two sisters, their retainer Dogger, and their housekeeper Mrs. Mullett. The de Luces own a slightly dilapidated country home in 1950s England. At the start of the novel, Flavia overhears her father arguing with a strange man, […]

Precocious 11 year old to the rescue

November 28, 2017 by Mikki Blu Leave a Comment

I am late to the Flavia de Luce train, but a random comment about the series that I came across somewhere intrigued me enough to request this book from the library. While I didn’t up loving this book, it wasn’t bad. It’s set in 1950s Britain, and Flavia is a precocious 11 year old girl who lives with her father and two older sisters; her mother passed away some time ago, but she she is far from forgotten. Her family is rather eccentric and Flavia […]

This is book eight; time to stop wanting this series to be something it’s not.

July 20, 2017 by narfna 2 Comments

This was back on form after the disappointment of the last one. This series still isn’t perfect for me, but I find it really comforting and enjoyable anyway. I think I just need to let this series be itself and stop wanting it to be what it’s not. The mysteries and plot twists are always going to be predictable. Flavia is always going to pursue random avenues of inquiry that somehow magically lead her to answers. There is probably always going to be a misbalance between the mystery […]

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Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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