NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “Flavia is incisive, cutting and hilarious . . . one of the most remarkable creations in recent literature.”—USA TodayFlavia de Luce, a dangerously smart eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders, thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacey are over—until beloved puppeteer Rupert Porson has his own … Rupert Porson has his own strings sizzled in an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. But who’d do such a thing, and why? Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she’s letting on? What about Porson’s charming but erratic assistant? All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can’t solve—without Flavia’s help. But in getting so close to who’s secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Alan Bradley’s A Red Herring Without Mustard, discussion questions, and an essay by the author.
more
Delightful story with a charming and clever young heroine
The whole series is excellent!
Love Flavia de Luce mysteries!
Entire series is wondetful
I’ve read every single Flavia de Luce mystery. They are all delightful, fun, a little tense and Flavia is the sort of girl we wish we could have been! Smart, independent and of course, brilliant! Sure, she’s eleven years old, but these are NOT kid mysteries!
A charming book I read it eagerly!
A 12 year old detective with a passion for chemistry, a real mystery, balmy relatives, a quaint English village, what’s not to like? And, to top it off, really good writing.
Part of the Flavia de Luce novel series. Read them in order. She is a genius chemist for her age (10-12) in the series. I have read them all.
Flavia is growing up in post-WW2 English countryside in an unusual and impoverished aristocratic home. An unusual child even in an unusual family, her love of chemistry, especially poisons make solving a murder just a matter of persistence. Her sometimes faulty logic will fascinate and delight even the most jaded of readers.
As a child I read Nancy Drew..as an adult, now I get to read about Flavia!
Book Two in Flavia de Luce series:
The story does not disappoint.
No sex
No violence – although it is spoken of
Very limited strong language
The story is absolutely delightful.
The very precocious yet naive Flavia meets a traveling puppeteer and his lovely assistant. Through the lens of high intelligence coupled with her often amusing take on …
11-year-old Flavia DeLuce finds herself involved in a second mystery when a traveling puppet show comes to town. She is asked to help them set up and settle in to their temporary home, but when murder makes an appearance, she begins to dig deeper to find the killer.
The murder doesn’t happen until almost the half way point, but the story doesn’t …
i really enjoyed it. a friend gave it to me when i was in the hospital.
I love all the Flavia books! They are very “Harry Potter” like. Harry and Flavia are both sad neglected children who use their wits to explore the mysteries in their lives.
I am in love with the characters!
I enjoy all the Flavia de Luce books.
Wonderful female sleuth very entertaining!
Another great one!
If you mix Pippi Longstocking with Sherlock Holmes and give them a lab, this would be the result. A most original character.
Flavia never disappoints! Love the books, can’t wait for the next one to be published. Funny, unexpected, sometimes endearing, love her interaction with her sisters. She lives an unconventional live and, whether you sometimes want to shake her or hug her, always entertains.