NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The world’s greatest adolescent British chemist/busybody/sleuth” (The Seattle Times), Flavia de Luce, returns in a twisty mystery novel from award-winning author Alan Bradley.In the wake of an unthinkable family tragedy, twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is struggling to fill her empty days. For a needed escape, Dogger, the loyal family servant, suggests a boating trip … servant, suggests a boating trip for Flavia and her two older sisters. As their punt drifts past the church where a notorious vicar had recently dispatched three of his female parishioners by spiking their communion wine with cyanide, Flavia, an expert chemist with a passion for poisons, is ecstatic. Suddenly something grazes her fingers as she dangles them in the water. She clamps down on the object, imagining herself Ernest Hemingway battling a marlin, and pulls up what she expects will be a giant fish. But in Flavia’s grip is something far better: a human head, attached to a human body. If anything could take Flavia’s mind off sorrow, it is solving a murder—although one that may lead the young sleuth to an early grave.
Praise for The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place
“Flavia [is] irrepressible, precocious and indefatigable. . . . A whole new chapter of Flavia’s life opens as she approaches adolescence. Will she become the Madame Curie of crime?”—Bookreporter
“Outstanding . . . As usual, Bradley makes his improbable series conceit work and relieves the plot’s inherent darkness with clever humor.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“There’s only one Flavia. . . . Series fans will anticipate the details of this investigation, along with one last taste of Flavia’s unorthodox family life.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Bradley’s unquenchable heroine brings ‘the most complicated case I had ever come across’ to a highly satisfying conclusion, with the promise of still brighter days ahead.”—Kirkus Reviews
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Exceptional prose – love the young protagonist Flavia de Luca!
Even though I am reading these stories in reverse order, I am loving them! Flavia Sabina de Luce and her best mate Dogger! Alan Bradley really understands intelligent children, and writes in such a style that makes reading about children, Flavia and Hob in this story, fun and funny. Words are precise; quotes are aptly chosen; children are carefree to pursue their interests without condescension. The backdrop is a sad one, as a de Luce relative has died recently.
Dogger’s suggestion to go on holiday to try ease everyone’s sorrow grants Flavia an especially good interlude between mourning her own family member and exploring whether the body she found was actually murdered or died of natural causes, and if it was a murder, who did it. Flavia and Dogger receive so much more than they expected as a past murder comes heavily in to play.
As an added bonus, these are audio books for me, and hearing Jayne Entwistle read is a sheer joy. I cannot imagine Flavia as sounding any other way. What a great team Bradley and Entwistle make, almost as outstanding as Dogger and Associates!
Read 10.3.2018
Ah Flavia. I have missed you so much. I am sorry it took me so long to read this story about you. I was nervous about the narrator and therefore was hesitant to even start this. I should have trusted that your writer would find the perfect voice for you and that I had nothing to worry about. I will never doubt [you] again.
What a great book. I love this series. From the minute I picked up the first one in the bookstore in Toronto until I [finally] picked this one up [we’ve had it since it was released and my mom devoured it immediately] and dove in, I have been hooked on Flavia and her family and all her escapades. And this one [for me] did not disappoint.
Unfortunately, all of the books run together. And to review this one would take away key points from the previous one. So therefore [since I am not a lover of spoilers, even with the spoiler button], I cannot really give this a proper review.
Just know that this is an excellent book. It has all of the elements that we know and love from a Flavia de Luce book. And I will be very sad on the day I read the last one.
Absolutely riveting , this installment of the Flavia de Luce series has a twisty plot and we learn more about the elusive Dogger. I love the quotes and the vocabulary— perfect!
I have thoroughly enjoyed all novels in this series and highly recommend them.
Even though I liked this book, I had a hard time getting to know Flavia, at first she seemed a little unbelievable. But as continued to read, I became quite fond of this character.
I love the entire series!
Not a quite as laugh-out-loud hilarious as the first one in the series (I wish I could give it 4 1/2 stars), it is still hilarious. It may be unfortunate for Bradley, but my sense of humor seems to be similar to his, and I love the characters. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was the funniest thing I have read in a while, in spite of the underlying seriousness of the plot and its denouement. Get it and read it.
Fun and spunky
Love this author and his real life characters
Great characters! Makes you want to read the next one.
The reader must be in the “right mood” to enjoy it. Sometimes the narrator’s voice is over the top.
Everything Alan Bradley writes in this series is wonderful. This little girls is intelligent, admirable and fun! I truly like her.
Complex and surprising. My first read by this author but not my last.
Really slow to get into. Really different read.
Flavia novels are always a 5 star read for me. The time period is interesting. Flavia is both an impossible character and a real life little girl. True warmth between characters is also mixed with the lifelike quarrels among family members. Oh and the mysteries are pretty good too.
Flavia de Luce is the best 11 year old character for adults to enjoy – ever. Who knew an 11 year old chemist with a quirky way of looking at the world would be so engaging?
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how to review this book. I have loved this series from the start, so to give it any sort of less than glowing praise feels disloyal, somehow. I suppose I will just jump right in with the “bad” so that I can follow it with the “good,” because there definitely was still good.
Cutting to the chase, I wasn’t crazy about the mystery Flavia encountered. I thought it had some real potential, but as it unwound itself, I just wasn’t entranced, as I’ve been in the past, ravenously devouring pages, needing to discover how all the pieces were going to snap together. I felt as if this one kept tripping over its own feet in the fog. Details seemed a bit haphazard to me, even at the conclusion, when all the seemingly random nuggets typically reveal a clear picture and purpose. Simply put, I was left feeling slightly disheveled and dissatisfied by the whole matter.
What was left to like, then, since these books do tend to be centered around Flavia’s investigations? Well, I loved the character development of our main cast. I hesitate to say more than that and spoil anything, especially when this was the part that kept me from rating the book a generous three. But I feel safe saying that loved peeling away another layer and gaining a bit more insight.
As for the ending of the book (by this, I mean the last page or so), I really don’t know what I think. It threw me a bit sideways and I’m not sure where Bradley is going with this, because I’m not sure how it will fit into who we know the de Luces to be and the turn their lives have taken in the past two to three books of the series. Perhaps “book ten” will make sense of it? Perhaps it will already make sense to other readers and I was simply caught so off guard that I’m on my own in my bewilderment? If this series truly ends after the next book, then I’m very curious how the final installment will wrap this all together.
Not my favorite of the Flavia series — too, too dark. The Christmas one is my favorite.
Flavia de Luce- Brilliant as Always
Appropriate for teens – adults
No strong language
No sex
Cozy Mystery style ickiness in description of victims
Flavia and family travel to a small village accompanied by their faithful friend Dogger.
A corpse is found. Flavia’s knowledge of chemistry and Dogger’s wisdom as well as significant help from Flavia’s sisters come together to right a years old crime.
A delight to read–highly recommended.