To be read: I am half-sick of shadows

 

    Due out on the 3rd. of November is Alan Bradley's latest Flavia de Luce mystery I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, and impatient Flavia fans will be pleased to hear that they are to have another instalment of this lovely series so soon.

    If you're not already acquainted with the 11-year-old sleuth and her adventures thus far, this post will give you some of the background, but these books with their 1950s English village setting and very original heroine are tremendous fun and always something to look forward to.

    In this new novel, the parlous state of the family finances has required Flavia's father to let Buckshaw, the family home, to a film company for location shooting. When a heavy snowfall maroons cast and crew, a dramatic murder takes place, and master-chemist Flavia - in the midst of designing a scientific experiment to prove the existence of Father Christmas - "has another, far deadlier mystery to solve".

    The book's title, by the way, comes from Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott.

Comments

[Sandy]

Arrrrrrrgh.

Hooked again. I have Kindled the 1st book in the series and am hoping it's good.

:)

[Ruthiella]

Oh, I am pleased to hear that. I have read the first two in the series and liked them immensely. I have book 3, “A Red Herring without Mustard”, on my shelves as well, waiting to be read. I know some readers find Flavia too precocious and annoying. I can see how that might be, but I like her and I particularly like how the books give me a sense of time and place. I fee like I know the village of Bishop's Lacey as well as I know St. Mary Mead. The books seem so very “British” to me, as an American, even though the author is Canadian.

[Joan Kyler]

I didn't think I was going to like this series, but the first book hooked me. I've read all three and, thanks to your alert, just put the fourth on hold at my library. The books and characters are unusual and interesting and a nice change.

[Kimberly Wold]

I'm halfway through the third book, A Red Herring Without Mustard, and it is delightful. Love Flavia. Will put number four on my list.

[Cornflower]

As a British person, I think the books feel very authentic.