Speaking from Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel (edition 2013)

I’m a big fan of Flavia, a spunky 11-year-old with a passion for chemistry, who travels her world of Bishop’s Lacey on her trusty bike Gladys.

In this latest adventure, the body of the village church organist is found in the crypt that contains the bones of the church’s patron, Saint Tancred, and Flavia is in it up to her neck. Along the way to cracking the case, she finds more clues that help her piece together the mystery that is her mother, Harriet.

As usual, it’s almost more about Flavia and her family than about unravelling the mystery which is a little convoluted and not really solvable by the reader. Still, Flavia is so much fun! 4 stars

Read this if: you’d enjoy a series, best read in order, that features a determined and intelligent adolescent protagonist; or you’d enjoy a slightly different take on the mid-twentieth century English village cozy. ( )

**spoiler alert**






Antigone is pregnant and...
Harriet is found!

Another romp with precocious Flavia de Luce...... she's worried about her father and what will happen to the family pile, Buckshaw, but since her father won't sell a book that would save them all (a bit unbelievably selfish, if you ask me) because he and his lost wife signed it together... (Romeo and Juliet no less) she's feeling helpless..... but not really..... approaching (finally) twelve years, she's feeling differently, more empathetic and more able to hold her tongue here and there, more aware of complicated situations surrounding her. The local organist has been murdered in a nasty way and hidden in a crypt, and of course Flavia is on the scene and getting in the Inspector's hair - well - getting ahead of the Inspector in a most annoying manner and there is a lost diamond..... I liked this one better because Flavia is maturing visibly and while it was all wildly improbable as always, she never was in quite as much danger. I love Dogger. Just love him. And Jayne Entwhistle (who you would love or hate) I happen to love as Flavia. I won't spoil the end, but it's a shocker! On to get the next one! **** ( )

I love this series of books. Flavia is a wonderfully brilliant central character.

‘I’ve mentioned before my passion for poisons and my special fondness for cyanide. But, to be perfectly fair, I must admit that I also have a soft spot for strychnine, not just for what it is, but for what it’s capable of becoming. Brought into the presence of nascent oxygen, for instance, these rather ordinary white crystals become at first rich blue in colour, then pass in succession through purple, violet, crimson, orange and yellow.
A perfect rainbow of ruin.’

But she’s also a child, locked in a war with her elder sisters:

‘My sisters had attempted, on numerous occasions, to convince me that Harriet was not my mother: that I had been adopted, or left by the Little People as a changeling, or abandoned at birth by an unknown mother who couldn’t bear the thought of weeping every day at the sight of my ugly face.
Somehow, it would have been much more comforting to know that my sisters and I were not of the same tribe.’

‘I had created a poison which, in sufficient quantities was enough to stop a rogue elephant dead in its tracks. What it would do to an impertinent sister was almost to gruesome to contemplate.’

Flavia’s on top form as she uses her investigative abilities to track down just who killed the local church organist, Mr Collicut, and deposited his body in the tomb of St Tancred and why.

The family is also, once again, teetering on the edge of financial ruin as the creditors circle, an intriguing development at the end of the book may or may not save Buckshaw from being sold, I can hardly wait for the next instalment in the series. ( )

When I was notified that I was a First Reads lucky winner and would be receiving this book in the mail I couldn't believe my good luck.

I loved this book just as much as I loved the first one. Reminds me of the Mary Russell books by [a:Laurie R. King|6760|Laurie R. King|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1314242901p2/6760.jpg].

I am afraid that I have a history with Alan Bradley. I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Bradley and receive a free autographed copy of his first Flavia de Luce book, [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://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320485993s/6218281.jpg|4543476]. Having never heard of Mr. Bradley I took the opportunity to meet another author somewhere else a half hour earlier, hoping to catch the end of Mr. Bradley's book signing if time permitted. As luck would have it I got there just as Mr. Bradley was leaving and didn't get to meet him or get a free book autographed in-person. Not a big deal really but one of lifes's little mistakes that kind of sticks in the back of your mind. ( )