This is the ninth book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, and I had trouble getting into this one. It started off slow for me, possibly because of how different it is from the others (thanks to events that happened in the last book). But once it got rolling, I really got into this one. I liked the characters a lot, and I really loved Dogger's increased role in Flavia's sleuthing in this novel. The end of the mystery was still, well, a mystery to me. Some things weren't 100 percent clear, but overall, it's a worthy addition to the series - I hope Alan Bradley keeps writing!

On vacation, Flavia and Dogger find a body floating in a river. Of course, they must investigate despite interference from a local constable, a nosy hotel keeper and various members of a down & out circus.

Despite loving this series, I struggled with this story. Not sure why—maybe the setting? Flavia is growing up and it was interesting to see her relationship with her sister change as well as being given more insight into Dogger’s war time struggles. Glad I stuck with it because things did resolve themselves. It just wasn’t the “unputdownable” story I was expecting.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love flavia de luce, but for me the series is growing weary and stretching the bounds of believability. How msny murders can a 13 yesr old just stumble across?
However, my teen students still enjoy Flavia and i continue to recommend the series to them.

It's been six rotten months since Flavia's father died. To combat their depression, the three de Luce sisters and the indispensable Dogger leave Bishop's Lacey and go on holiday in a different quaint English village. While admiring the site of a recent triple homicide, Flavia accidentally dredges up a fresh corpse. She instantly springs to life: wielding chemistry like a rapier, meddling in the investigation, and getting into the personal business of everyone in town. Good character progression (Flavia is less of a hellion, her sisters aren't mere nemeses, and Dogger might be conquering his PTSD), but the investigation (in particular its abrupt conclusion) leaves much to be desired.

This review is posted on Nov 23 at:
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I was SO excited to see the newest installment of the Flavia DeLuce novels was coming out in January, and even more so when I got to read it early! This is yet another fun and exciting mystery in this series. I loved that Dogger was more of a main character instead of just mentioned here and there sporadically like in previous novels. And I loved the way the author had Flavia and Dogger work together. I loved this book and am already waiting for the next one!

I have not yet read a Flavia deLuce book I did not like. Often I have to stop reading mystery series because the plots become predictable. This has not happened with this series. I am thrilled to be able to keep reading new and unexpected stories every time.

Thanks to the publishers (via NetGalley) for the opportunity to review this!

As always, this Flavia de Luce story was great fun! Flavia, her sisters and Dogger leave Buckshaw to go on a boat trip. "It was Dogger, I think, who had come up with the idea of a boat trip: of lazy days on the river, of cold-meat hampers with flasks of lemonade and ginger beer from Fortnum & Mason, of goose-down mattresses at night and hot beef roasts in an ever-changing string of country hotels." (Wouldn't you just love to go with them?)

Of course, much like Miss Marple, Flavia cannot go anywhere without a corpse popping up and (sadly) we're so glad they do!

As much as we love Buckshaw, the boat trip gives us a different setting for Flavia to test out her sleuthy-chemistry skills We meet new characters and are given the opportunity to relish in Alan Bradley's amazing talent for creating character depth. Daffy and Feely seem a teensy bit kinder and Flavia seems to be maturing a little as well which may explain their new tolerance.

The ending felt slightly rushed to me, but perhaps that's due to me trying to finish the book at bedtime. I still give it four stars!

The best part is a tantalizing teaser by Bradley that there will be more Flavia mysteries to come!

I love Flavia and enjoy keeping up with her family and friends. I'm not usually a big fan of historic fiction but the mystery is super good at holding your interest and Mr. Bradley slips the history into the story that you don't realize you're learning something too. Flavia, her sisters and Dogger are on a vacation and now the 4 of them must solve 3 murders. With Aunt Felicity trying to take over the girl's lives Flavia comes up with a plan to save her home and her family. This is book 9 in the series and you really want to read some of the previous books first. Once you start with book 1 you'll want to rad them all. Set in England in the early 1900's, the books have progressed accordingly.

I've read every installment in the Flavia de Luce series, but this one is lacked what the others have...a strong mystery and viable plot. While Bradley continues to keep the Flavia character as charming, witty and humorous as ever, this book did not hold my attention. The plot was all over the place with an ending that came out of nowhere and lacked clues. Bradley is brilliant, and I'll continue to read his books, but I hope the next installment will have a better plot.

In the latest offering in Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series, the mystery is a bit of a slow affair, but the characters are as interesting as ever.
After the events of the previous book, Flavia and family required a bit of a break. When the family is out for a row along the river, they get entangled with...a body. After some, in my opinion, rather too anatomically detailed investigation (this is Flavia, after all, and she has a stomach of iron), the story gets underway and introduces a cast of characters for this riverside town.
The most interesting one (though given far too little page time) is Hob, the undertaker's young son. He's younger than Flavia and she neatly steps into the role of cool older kid. Not that she overdoes it. But it does allow her to exercise her growing-up skills in a new way that I thought was well done.
The main strength of this book is to reaffirm the relationships that are important to Flavia, particularly with her father's old best friend Dogger and her sisters.
I really liked the brief appearance at the end of one of Flavia's mentors, as it allows the reader to see just what kind of a niche she has now carved out for herself and how she is not the friendless child that she may have imagined herself at the very beginning of the series. Flavia has come a long way in spite of only aging a couple of years. I look forward to seeing what's next.

I absolutely love the Flavia de Luce series and was so excited to be approved through Netgalley for an advanced copy. While the last book ended with such a sad and devastating loss, I am really happy that Dogger (who is second only to Flavia in my mind) played a bigger more role in this book. For anyone thinking about giving this series a try, do it!!

After 9 books centered around this precocious main character, you know exactly what kind of story you'll be getting. But it's the familiar (but not formulaic) style and well-loved characters that make me want to return again and again to the world of Flavia de Luce.

I assume the 9th book is not going to be the first book someone picks up, but if in case you're new to the series, start with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and enjoy the adventure from the start. A spoiler from the end of the last book is coming:

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book given that Flavia's father died at the end of the previous book. What would happen to the three sisters? How would Flavia handle the loss?
The answer turned out to be a long family vacation led by Dogger, especially meant to keep Feely occupied while she waits for her postponed wedding, and a lot of British stiff-upper-lip.

As usual, Flavia quickly finds a dead body, and discovers more than one mystery in the town they're visiting. With Flavia's father gone, we get a chance to see just how much paternal and sleuthing influence Dogger has on Flavia.

Reading these books feels like getting to visit a dear friend you haven't seen in a year, you want to spend time with them for who they've already proven to be, and you want to spend time with them to see who they've become while you were apart. This book ended with a hint at what could be a truly marvelous setup for the final book of the series. If Flavia's suggestion comes to pass, then readers will easily be able to imagine the fulfilled life that Flavia and Dogger will get to carry out long after the last page.

Flavia is back. Yarooo! I enjoyed this book much more then the last one in the series. I was thrilled that my second favourite character Dogger had a bigger part to play in this one. I just love the relationship that he and Flavia have. An unfortunate result of their father's passing seems to be the sister's relationship is improving. There were so many fun secondary characters in this book. My only complaint would be the ending was a bit abrupt. There didn't seem to be much resolution with the murderer and I still had a couple questions that went unanswered. However, I am thrilled to see Flavia's plans for Buckshaw and can't wait to see what the future holds for the crew she gets together.

Ah, Flavia is back! In this last and final (?) book in the Flavia de Luce series her character deepens and becomes richer, as does Dogger. In my mind’s eye I think of Flavia as a young Agatha Christie, maybe because of the strong connection to poisons. Flavia fatefully snags a dead body from a river, it is dressed in blue satin and wearing red ballet slippers...the beginning of another fun tale full of red herring characters and sleuthing.

Six months after the wrenching ending of the previous title in this series (Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd), Flavia, her sisters, and Dogger are enjoying a punting holiday. Trailing her hand in the river, Flavia snags what she initially believes to be a fish but is, instead, a corpse. Bringing the corpse to the shore, Flavia is soon sleuthing for the murderer of the man in the river, as well as looking into the deaths of three local women presumed killed by a former vicar. I enjoy watching Flavia grow up, and in this particular volume, her relationships with her sisters are changing as well, as they all mature. Dogger emerges as a more central character, which I hope will continue in later books in the series.

Flavia is back and I can't get enough of it. She is a little melancholy but who could really blame her. Her life seems to finally go back to normal (well, her normal) when she finds a dead body while on vacation. In a town famous for previous murders Flavia just might end up solving more crimes than attempted too.

I was bit wary when I started to read this latest installment based on what had happened in the previous book. I wondered if everything would change. Thankfully for both Flavia and the reader's sake things didn't change all that much. If anything I loved the fact that Flavia and Dogger teamed up to solve the murder. I can't wait to see if they team up more in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.

I was given this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Flavia was so much more enjoyable this time. After the death of her father in the previous book, Flavia has grown to appreciate her sisters a little more and they her. Dogger is still her favorite, and, to be honest, mine, too.

Dogger has suggested a trip to get the girls out of their house and their memories a little bit, and, of course, Flavia stumbles upon a murder. The book moves along quickly, and Flavia is still smarter than I can even understand in terms of science and is becoming much better with interpersonal dealings.

I was surprised by the ending, both by the murderers and the way the book ended.

I recommend this for any grown fans of Nancy Drew or fans of Agatha Christie of any age.

I adore Flavia de Luce! She is one of the few child protagonists in adult literature, and she is marvelous. This is also one of those mystery series that I read more for the characters and setting than for the actual mysteries. In this case, on holiday, the de Luce family and their long-time servant Dogger go on holiday, only to find a dead body that leads them to dig into an infamous murder case from two years earlier. That Flavia literally hooks the body by the jaw with her bare hands while punting down the river, and is more thrilled than disgusted by it, is just the sort of macabre thing that makes the series so enjoyable.

I loved, too, getting a bit more of Flavia's sisters this time around. And I very much hope that the ending is setting up a new book in the series!

The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place

A new Flavia de Luce mystery - now with more bodies! More Dogger! Flavia literally hooks a corpse! Read now to find out how!

The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place opens with Flavia and her sisters on a boat with Dogger, listlessly “enjoying” a holiday. Everyone is still grieving what happened in the last book, and the vacation is supposed to take their minds off of it…with mixed results. Flavia trails her hand in the water besides the skiff and literally hooks a corpse, just as if she were a fishing pole and the corpse were a wriggling fish. I have to hand it to Alan Bradley - what a unique way of finding a corpse! Loved it.

Despite the fish having nibbled away some of his face (lovely, grotesque detail!), the man is quickly identified as a local actor named Orlando. Despite Orlando’s unfortunate demise looking like an accidental drowning, Flavia takes on the case. And once Flavia has a mystery to solve, the holiday is looking up for her - good-bye doldrums, hello sleuthing!

To make matters even more mysterious, the village they’re visiting was home to the Poisoning Parson, a man who was hanged for poisoning three of his congregation with cyanide-laced Communion wine. Is this new crime related to the ghastly poisoning crime in any way? Flavia has her hands full looking into this fresh new death and the ones from the past.

The reason this is not a 5-star Flavia de Luce book for me is that the entire book takes place in a new village with new players. I missed Buckshaw, Bishop’s Lacey, and all the familiar characters. That’s also how I felt about the one where Flavia went to live at Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy in Canada - it’s still a delightful read, but it’s missing something, and I think that something is the setting.

If you’re a fan of Flavia de Luce (and who isn’t at this point?), you’ll find much to enjoy in the ninth installment of the series. There’s plenty of snarky humor, bodies, and Flavia charm. I also have to give a nod to the electric cover.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC to review!