WINNER OF THE AGATHA • ARTHUR ELLIS • DILYS • DEBUT DAGGER AWARDS “Wonderfully entertaining . . . sure to be one of the most loved mysteries of the year . . . [Flavia is] a delightful, intrepid, acid-tongued new heroine.”—Chicago Sun-TimesIt is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a … for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.
For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”
BONUS: This edition contains a The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie discussion guide and an excerpt from Alan Bradley’s The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag.
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The Alan Bradley series with lead character Flavia de Luce is entertainng and frankly, once you read one you want to read them all
the author of this book is amazing in how much chemistry he knows and how he uses it in the plot – absolutely incredible! And years ago , this could all be true!!!
great great read
If there were half-stars, I’d give this book 3-1/2 rather than 4 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the characters. It’s not often you come across a mystery with an 11 year old protagonist that’s written for adults. Flavia is not only precocious, she’s a genius when it comes to chemistry. But that ultimately became my problem with the book …
Loved the book. The main character is a young girl with a love for chemistry and poisons. Set in England in post WW2, Flavia DeLuce lives in the country in a huge manor that hasn’t been kept up. Her mom has been missing for years and she doesn’t get along with her 2 sisters.
The reading is light but fun as we follow the sharp mind of …
Loved this book – great series – I love how spunky the main character Flavia is – she keeps her family on their toes while she solves the mysteries around her
I loved this book – just finished it and have already added the next one to my wish list.
I love everything about Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce! This has been my favorite mystery series since Dame Agatha. I highly recommend!
A delightful story about a remarkably funny little girl who is quite bright. A fun read.
Love the whole series
Great young sleuth. Holds its own in the Mystery world. Enjoyed the “whodunit” aspect.
Charming
Loved this book! A pure delight. I will be following this author!
Love all of the Flavia de Luce books. Many adults don’t read them because it is about a 12 year old girl. Wrong!! She is so precocious and intelligent. Solves the mystery every time.
You have to love this little girl. She sees what others miss, and is unafraid of getting to the bottom of the story and then telling the truth of what she finds.
This is the first book in the series that features Flavia a brilliant 11-year old British girl that loves chemistry and solving crimes. Don’t miss this quirky series!
I love this entire series except for the last one published. I loved Flavia’s complete freedom as she rambled the English countryside on her trusty bike. I love her naivete, her plukiness, yet her sweetness. I will discontinue the series now that she is older and traveling away from her quirky family and neighborhood.
Charming story with eccentric and likeable characters who add to the fun of the mystery
My favorite of the whole series.
I really couldn’t stand this one. Sorry.
It was difficult to get into at first, but turned out to be rather entertaining! I like the principal character, Flavia. She has a lot of spunk and a vivid imagination! I liked it so much that I went on to read several more in the series and intend to go through them all.