speaking from among the bones by alan bradley

To be fair, she is a whiz at chemistry, and she has helped solve several crimes in her small town before the age of 12. No doubt she would take offense to both the “aspiring” and “amateur” descriptions. (Thanks, ‘Murica!)įor those unfamiliar with the series, it stars an 11-year-old girl named Flavia de Luce who is an aspiring chemist and amateur detective.

I started reading the Flavia de Luce series at the end of 2020 and finally got around to picking it back up a few weeks ago.

It is finely written, amusingly acerbic, full of personality and pathos, and leaves us wanting book six rather desperately! An excellent entry in this series.Cozy mysteries are a great solace during troubling times, which makes me wonder why I’ve bothered to read anything else since 2017. These things give Flavia an edge of anxiety that she doesn't necessarily recognize in herself, but which add depth to her character.įlavia de Luce was a delight to read about right from the beginning, and book five has topped its predecessors, in my opinion.

The family is on the verge of losing Buckshaw, and eldest sister Feely is shortly to be married and leave the family circle altogether. She is becoming ever so slightly more self-aware as her world is changing around her. Yet Flavia is still the heart of the story, and in this one seems to have more heart, somehow. There was a great deal of action in this book, with many characters to follow. This sets off a whirlwind search for clues and patterns, with Flavia encountering two other amateur sleuths on the case (both adults), finding people who mistake her for her long-lost mother Harriet, deliberating on the history and existence of holy relics, ruminating about her place in her family and the wider world, crawling through the muck of mysterious graveyard tunnels, falling into mortal danger, and creating new chemical tests to prove her theories. And occupying the long-closed tomb of the church's patron saint, St Tancred. In this volume, Flavia is instrumental in discovering the whereabouts of the missing church organist, Mr. There is so much character development, a clever mystery, some détente between sisters - and one heck of a cliffhanger ending as well. This is the latest in the Flavia de Luce series, and it was such a satisfying read! I have enjoyed all the books in this series, but this one was extra special. Speaking from among the bones / Alan Bradley

Speaking from among the bones by alan bradley