A Red Herring Without Mustard: A Flavia de Luce Novel (edition 2011)

Flavia is back and the other characters are starting to get a little more depth. Actually, I may have liked this third book in the series a little more than the second. Another reviewer mentioned that there are errors in the book that bothered him. There are errors in every book and, believe me, this isn't anywhere near the worst. So, if you liked [b:The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie|6218281|The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1)|Alan Bradley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255740234s/6218281.jpg|4543476] and you are not a professional gypsyologist with an inverted jenny in your safe deposit box, you will like this book, too. ( )

Flavia is back and the other characters are starting to get a little more depth. Actually, I may have liked this third book in the series a little more than the second. Another reviewer mentioned that there are errors in the book that bothered him. There are errors in every book and, believe me, this isn't anywhere near the worst. So, if you liked [b:The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie|6218281|The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1)|Alan Bradley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255740234s/6218281.jpg|4543476] and you are not a professional gypsyologist with an inverted jenny in your safe deposit box, you will like this book, too. ( )

I hadn't realized how much I missed the antics of Flavia de Luce until talking with a friend about the first two books and some of my suspicions about the characters. Right after our conversation, I purchased the third book and immediately began reading it. I was instantly swept away into Flavia's world of two teasing sisters, a grieving and preoccupied father, chemistry, mystery, murder, and investigating.

I think I enjoy these books so much because there's so much character development. After being introduced to Flavia in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, it has been interesting to see her progression as a character. I would tell you that I feel sorry for her, but I think she might respond with the phrase, "Damned and double damned!" So, I will just say that it has been intriguing to see how a girl with a deceased mother, grieving father (who is still grieving after 10 years), and two torturous older sisters fares in the world. I do not feel sorry for Flavia, but I do wish that she had someone to commend her on her achievements. Being a chemistry wiz and solving three murders and an attempted murder is no small feat, and I think if Flavia’s mother, Harriet, were still around, she would be very proud of the girl.

I don’t want to make her family sound awful. I enjoyed this book so much because I finally was able to see her father express a bit more emotion. In some small ways, he finally showed that he was proud of Flavia. Colin de Luce is not a bad father. I think he cares very much about the trouble that Flavia gets into, but I believe that her free spirit reminds him so much of Harriet that he rather enjoys Flavia’s trouble making and turns a blind eye against it.

Feely and Daffy were even more awful than I could imagine. I’m still a little peeved that Flavia didn’t get her revenge on them, but oh well, there’s always the next book. Even though I know she would despise anyone saying this to her, I do feel sorry for Flavia because of how her sisters treat her. They’re mean and cruel to her for no reason, and I think this is the one thing that bothers her. She can’t understand what she ever did to deserve such treatment from the only two women in her life who should love her unconditionally. I suspect it’s because Feely and Daffy are jealous that Flavia was loved most by Harriet and is adored by Father—even if he won’t admit it—but that’s a story for another time.

If you want to see great character development with a little murder, mayhem, and British swearing along the way, I think this is the perfect book for you. However, I highly recommend reading the first book in the series so that you have a definite understanding of where Flavia comes from and what she’s been through. From the moment she opens her mouth to narrate, you won’t want to put the books down.
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This was a wonderful book choice to transition me from 2011 to 2012.

Flavia is so much fun! She’s a hoot. But, with each book, I also find her more & more endearing. And she really makes me appreciate chemistry.

For the first time I’m enjoying Gladys as her own character, not just as an accoutrement of Flavia’s.

I would have preferred Roma to Gypsy, though this is historical fiction and I’m sure the term is more correctly used for this time and place. But then right away the word for horse was given in the Romany language so I was satisfied.

So, I read this almost immediately after reading book 2 and my thought was I’d go on almost immediately to book 4, but it turns out that for all the griping I do about waiting for each next book in a series to be available, I think there is something to be said for enjoying series books more if there is some time in-between them. I think I’ll wait at least several months to continue with this series; I have too many books at the top of my queue to do anything else anyway.

I love how Flavia says: “…because I was only eleven years old, I was wrapped in the best cloak of invisibility in the world.”

This series is one of my favorite cozy mystery series.

I love how the scary parts are short and not too scary. In this book, I nearly cried with emotion at the last line and nearly laughed when I turned the page to read the short author’s note.

And, I didn’t guess the mystery in full, not at all, and I enjoy having good clues yet being kept basically in the dark. I read so many mysteries I often do guess them, which can be fun but I prefer being surprised.

4 ½ stars

I just upped the other books in this series from 4 to 5 stars. Its protagonist is just too unique for me to feel otherwise. ( )

A mystery with a hidden tunnel? What more can you ask for? All the awesome features of Flavia de Luce are in this one. The reader for the audio is great, too.
And it becomes even more apparent that you can trust Flavia's narration, that is, her perspective. What a clever literary device! ( )