I Am Half-Sick of Shadows: A Flavia de Luce Novel (edition 2011)

So, this book overall wasn't as good as the first three. But, as you can see, I liked it. Flavia is still Flavia. There was no pulling back on her character. It was very nice to visit again and I miss her again already. And the writing was every bit what I've come to expect. It just didn't seem like there was as much to this story as there had been with the others. I didn't feel like I had my fill when it was over. Who knows, maybe I'm just craving more after such long waits. It's a relief to expect to be out from under some of the financial pressure, and there certainly is more to Aunt Felicity then I ever guessed, which I think is going to come into play on a future mystery. How can it not? So unless I come back and change it, it's pushing upwards from four stars trying to reach the cutoff for rounding up. And Flavia's still one of my favorite characters of all time. ( )

I love this charming series, and this installment was no exception. Eager to move on to the next one. :) ( )

I Am Half-Sick Of Shadows by Alan Bradley is the fourth of the Flavia de Luce mysteries. This one is set during Christmas time, and because of a blizzard, ends up being a locked room (err, snowed in mansion) mystery.

Flavia's home is invaded by a movie crew who are shooting in the area. The well-meaning vicar invites them over to Buckshaw to put on a charity show for the villagers. That's when the blizzard strikes and someone ends up dead.

Although there is a murder mystery tucked away in I Am Half Sick of Shadows, it comes late in the book. The mystery portion of these books has been drifting further and further into the recesses of the plot. More and more the emphasis is on the family and financial troubles. But Flavia and her family are well enough rendered characters to make these distraction from the mysteries interesting reading. ( )

Maybe because it was so short (or I went through it so quickly) that I did not love this one as much as others. It was also much more predictable. However, it's still enjoyable and full of all the excellent characteristics that make up Flavia Sabina de Luce.

Can't wait for the next one! ( )

I always love Flavia but this one seemed back to the former glory of the first in this series. ( )

As I've said before, I just love Flavia!! ( )

The story begins with an incredible example of just how charming Flavia de Luce, an eleven year old girl, can be. Her ever-scheming mind is relishing her latest plan, one that involves confirming or denying the legend of Father Christmas. Her idea, though complicated in execution, has a childish need behind it. It is proof that even though she's a genius in the making, she still operates the way girls her age should. She has no patience for understanding what an affair is, can't fathom why anyone would want to fall in love, and is quite reluctant to give up the notion that a mythical man climbs down the chimney and brings her the Erlenmeyer flasks she desperately wants for Christmas.

Enter murder, and Flavia's mind immediately goes to work unraveling the murderer's scheme, foiling the inspector's attempts to keep her out of it, and trying to understand why adults do what they do. Though the ending is a tad predictable, this book isn't just about the whodunnit. It's also about the fascinating thought processes of our heroine.

What I love most about this series is that even though it's marketed as adult, anyone age ten and up could read it and enjoy every minute. They're relatively short (an average of 350 pages), they're fast-paced, and the stories never feel the need to be vulgar or violent. ( )

Flavia de Luce with a holiday theme?! Loved it! ( )

The fourth book of the Flavia de Luce series, and she now wants to capture Father Christmas shimmying down the chimney. Only her. Flavia faces more trouble with her older sisters, her father's bankruptcy and a film crew in the house. What else? Murder happens, and she's the one to see the dead body and she's the one who solves it. As usual, great new characters, and adorable older characters abound. I really love the vicar, Inspector Hewitt, Dieter, Dogger and Aunt Felicity. I love Daphne as well. I won't talk about Flavia, as I've done exactly that in all my reviews of past books. I'm in love with this series. ( )

Delightful! ( )

Another great Flavia book. The changing relationships between Flavia and her sisters as well as Flavia and the Inspector added to the book - previously the relationships seemed too static, so I'm glad they're changing in subtlety. ( )

Some of the witticisms from previous books were definitely lacking. In addition, very little of the book is spent with Flavia's sleuthing skills. I miss both of these elements in this most recent novel. ( )

A film crew to use Flavia's home Buckshaw as a set is the latest in her father's money making schemes to stave off the debtors. There's plenty of room at Buckshaw to accommodate them and the arrangement is that each will stay out of the other's way. But he has not reckoned with Flavia's insatiable curiosity, nor with the fact that someone will commit murder.

On the night of the blizzard almost the entire population of the village is visiting to watch an impromptu fundraising performance by the main actors. And so it becomes the perfect setting for a "locked room" mystery.

I have enjoyed each in this series featuring 11 year old sleuth Flavia de Luce, Flavia has an insatiable love of Chemistry and this Christmas she wants to test whether Father Christmas is a real person by laying a sticky trap for him on the main chimney.

But there is a delightful cast of characters apart from Flavia: her sisters Daffy and Feely, her father's man-servant Dogger, the cook Mrs Mullet, Dr. Darby, the Vicar and his wife, and even the policemen who come to investigate, all feel larger than life.

This more-or-less cozy series is set post World War II and is certainly worth reading in order. ( )

I particularly enjoyed this Flavia de Luce installment. Flavia demonstrates the magical thinking of all children alongside her intensely intellectual curiosity. Well worth the read. ( )

Summary: Due to the failing family fortunes, Flavia de Luce's father has agreed to let a film company use their family home as a set for a movie over the Christmas holidays. The whole town of Bishop's Lacey is in an uproar about the presence of movie star Phyllis Wyvern in their midst, and even Flavia is willing to put aside her chemistry equipment (and plans to capture Santa Claus using homemade birdlime) to join in the excitement. When the actors agree to do a holiday charity show, it seems as if the entire village turns up, and promptly gets snowbound in Buckshaw by a sudden blizzard. As if being snowed in at Christmas weren't bad enough, during the night Flavia discovers that there has been a terrible murder, and everyone in the house is a suspect... including Flavia herself!

Review: Although the murder mysteries are not the primary reason I enjoy the Buckshaw Chronicles, I do prefer it when they're good and mysterious and well-thought-out, with enough clues that I can almost but not quite solve it myself. And while the good news is that I am Half-Sick of Shadows had a lot of the things I like about these books, I thought that mystery portion of things fell a little flat.

Good things first: I love Flavia as a narrator, all smart and sassy but still only twelve, and she's in fine form this book. In particular, I really enjoy her relationship with her older sisters, and there are some really interesting and surprisingly emotional scenes on that front in this book. I like how good Bradley is at evoking rural village life in post-war Britain, and with the entire village crammed into a single house, that aspect of things is definitely enjoyable. I love Flavia's obsession with chemistry, and while I thought there wasn't as much of that in this book as their had been in previous books, what was there was used well. In short, all of the aspects of this book except the central mystery were just as good as they've been in all of the previous books.

The mystery, on the other hand, felt rather shortchanged. In part, this was because it was sort of oddly paced - the murder doesn't even happen until just shy of halfway through the book. I also thought that the new characters in this book - the film stars and crew - appeared on screen (as it were) far too briefly for the most part for them to be either of interest as characters, or of suspicion in the murder itself. The solution to the mystery wasn't really guessable from the clues we were given, and seemed to come (literally) out of nowhere.

But, as I said, I read these books more for Flavia herself than for the dead bodies she keeps finding. And on that score, this book was light, fun, easy, and Christmas-y enough to be an enjoyable read. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: This book could be understood well enough on its own, but if you're only going to read one book from this series, I am Half-Sick of Shadows isn't the best one. Fans of Flavia, however, should find it a fun read. ( )

The narrative felt really disjointed compared to the other Flavia books. While I wouldn't put it past Flavia to be preoccupied with her experiments when a murder has just been committed in her own house, it seemed very odd that everyone else, even the police, was so nonchalant about it. The story had that quintessential isolated manor house murder mystery set-up (where everyone is stranded, so you know the killer must still be in the house), but not one of the characters in the book seemed to grasp that concept.

All in all, not one of the better of Alan Bradley's. But it was fun to have a Christmas setting in my reading while I've been preparing for Christmas myself.

(x-posted on Goodreads) ( )

Oh, how I adore this series. It's full of small village charm, with a dash of poison and murder--and all through the eyes of a precocious 11-year-old. It says a great deal about Flavia's depth of personality that she has such a fixation on death and the biology of toxins, yet at her age she still fervently believes in Father Christmas. Her plans to snare Santa are complicated by the arrival of movie stars with their entourage, as they have rented the estate for some holiday filming.

In other mystery books, it would be quite irksome that no one dies until 1/3 of the way through. Here, every character is so enjoyable and fascinating, that there's no rush for the corpse. It will arrive in time. I have the utmost faith in Bradley's plots. The ending of this one had a particular smash-bang as well. Flavia's sisters are so wretched towards her, and there's some lovely development in their relationships.

These are the ultimate cozy mysteries. The book ends and I feel sad and empty. It's like eating potato chips, and you reach the bottom of the bag. Fortunately, I won an early release copy of the next book (yippee!) so I can read on. ( )

"I finished this book in December, and it was the perfect thing to read on cold, wintery nights. The fourth installment of the Buckshaw Chronicles opens with Flavia de Luce in full form.

What I enjoyed about the other three titles in the Buckshaw Chronicles by Alan Bradley holds true; Flavia is a witty, intelligent, and humourous narrator. Something about this book recaptured whatever I felt was missing from book two and three (but couldn’t put my finger on it at the time).

Read my full review on my blog" ( )

Christmas time with Flavia and a movie star. Great adventures with her family and of course a mystery too. A great holiday installment of a enjoyable mystery series! ( )

Christmas has come to Buckshaw. Flavia is celebrating the season by plotting a method to trap Father Christmas as he comes down the chimney, in an effort to prove her sisters wrong about the jolly old elf's existence (they maintain he does not). The house is also filled with paying guests: a film crew producing a new movie starring noted actress Phyllis Wyvern. The scene soon turns into a locked-room mystery when a blizzard snows everyone in at Buckshaw and the noted actress turns up murdered. Enter Flavia, ready to solve the crime.

This was an enjoyable read, but much more for the family dynamics than the mystery itself. Flavia and her sisters are constantly harassing/teasing/insulting each other, but throughout the story Flavia learns a bit more about their personalities and perhaps begins to understand them a bit better. ("Why do you hate me?" Flavia asks Ophelia at one point. Ophelia responds, "I wish I hated you. That would make things so much easier.") Colonel de Luce also opens up a bit more; the scene toward the end where he quotes part of the tomb scene in Romeo and Juliet is stunning. And Daphne may be my favourite de Luce when she says about reading, "Books are like oxygen to a deep-sea diver. Take them away and you may as well start counting the bubbles."

I'd recommend this to admirers of Flavia (if you haven't read any of them, I'd recommend reading at least the second one, because there are definite references to that one) and suggest that it goes best with a snow day at home, a blanket and a mug of hot chocolate. ( )

A character that knows the periodic table inside out, and at the same time is trying to entrap Santa Claus, how can you resist? Flavia is one of the most striking heroines, and you just want to follow her adventures- or at least I do.

It's Christmas and Flavia, desperate to prove her sisters wrong, plans to prove Father Christmas's existence by trapping him in birdlime - made from holly. Meanwhile Colonel de Luce, desperately trying to keep the family in residence at Buckshaw, has reluctantly agreed to allow a film company to use Buckshaw as a location over the Christmas period.

The crumbling manor is soon filled with people, noise, bustle and glamour as the film crew set up. The local villagers are forced to stay overnight at the manor when the film's star, Phyllis Wyvern, stages an entertainment for the villagers, in the middle of a heavy snowstorm.

Inevitably there's a murder and Flavia gets another chance to hone her detecting skills, ably assisted by Dogger.

I love this series of books and they keep getting better. Flavia is an engaging and convincing character, I love the description of her fights with her sisters, she's also and an excellent detective. Fantastic. ( )

Ah, Christmastime at Buckshaw with the fabulous Flavia de Luce. What could be better? How about a film crew, family secrets, a death or two, and Flavia's irrepressible charm, intelligence, and 11 year-old brain to help guide us through the story. I adore this series, was beyond excited to win this as an ER book, and saved it for a day when I could sit down and gobble it up all once. Though that was, unfortunately, July 4th and it was over 100 degrees outside, reading about the frost and snow cooled me down and I floated along with the book without a care in the world. The films cast and crew take the place of some of the neighborhood characters (though they do appear briefly), and it's a refreshing breeze wafting through Flavia's world. Excellent! Now, when does the next book come out? ( )

While the sisters are still extremely rude to Flavia, they are not up to their usual shenanigans in this addition to the series. They are distracted by the troupe of actors who are paying to have a movie filmed in the De Luce grand country home because the father is so penniless that he needs any money he can get. Flavia, however, is extra preoccupied from solving the murder by an ambitious trap she has made to catch Father Christmas as he comes to their roof, as well as presenting a huge fireworks display for the benefit of the area dwellers. All of this she manages by use of her chemistry lab and without the knowledge of any of the grown-ups. ( )

I love the Flavia de Luce series so much, and this book was no exception. I definitely plan on reading the whole series. The audio versions are also fantastic. ( )