If you haven’t yet discovered the joy of Alan Bradley’s charming Flavia de Luce mysteries, you are missing out on a real treat. He just released book 7 (of a planned 10 book series) January 6, titled As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust.
I should be over the moon, then…right? The problem…I’ve finished it already!! Ugh! Another long year (or, gasp! more) to wait for the next installment. I fear I’m not going to make it that long. I need to learn to read these much, much slower. Or Alan Bradley needs to write faster!
Flavia, for those who have not yet met her, is a whip-smart, sassy young girl living in a small village in 1950s England on Buckshaw, her family’s large estate, which is currently in the care of her aloof, emotionally distant father. Flavia shares the house with two older teenage sisters (who she often wishes would come to harm in sinister ways), the cook Mrs. Mullet, and Dogger, the groundskeeper/jack of all trades who often covertly aids Flavia in her mischief. Inevitably, a dead body turns up in every book and Flavia, with her unmatched self-taught chemistry skills and intense curiosity, somehow gets herself involved as each case unfolds.
Colorful, eye-catching, original cover art, a marvelous cast of characters, quirky English village life, a plucky young sleuth…Flavia has it all. Look up the first book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, to begin your adventure. You won’t regret it!
—Maureen
