If I were an 11 year old again, I’d definitely want to be like Flavia de Luce: a very inquisitive, ingenious, stubborn amateur chemist and sleuth. Flavia’s family life isn’t perfect, but she makes the best of it. She lives in Buckshaw, an isolated and crumbling British estate located in the village of Bishop’s Lacey. The de Luce family includes the father, Col. Havilland de Luce, who has a fondness for collecting stamps; older sisters Ophelia who is newly engaged and Daphne who is a bookworm; as well as Harriet, Flavia’s mother who has been missing in the Tibet area.
Set in the 1950’s, the book starts with the de Luce family going to the local train station. They’re meeting the train which is bringing Flavia’s mother Harriet, who was found dead, frozen deep in the Himalayas. While waiting for the train, a strange tall man tries to talk to Flavia, but she just catches the last phrase “the gamekeeper is in danger.” Shortly after that, the stranger dies under suspicious circumstances.
It will be up to Flavia to decipher the meaning of the cryptic message, to hold the family together while they are grieving, and to find the real culprit of the murder who seems to be closer than expected. With the help of Dogger, the loyal valet who saved Flavia’s father life during the war, a local pharmacist, and even her mother’s airplane Blithe Spirit, Flavia will attempt the ultimate chemistry experiment.
This is the 6th installment of the Flavia de Luce series. If you like a good mystery with great characters and a little bit of historical background, you will find yourself craving more Flavia de Luce.
If you’d like to read this book, you can find it in our catalog here and it’s also available in digital format .
Happy Reading,
