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"Colonel de Luce, in desperate need of funds, rents his beloved estate of Buckshaw over to a film company. They will be shooting a movie over the Christmas holidays, filming scenes in the stately manse with a famous and reclusive star. She is widely despised, so it is to no one's surprise when she turns up murdered, strangled by a length of film from her own movies! With the snow raging outside and Buckshaw locked in, the house is full of suspects. But Flavia de Luce is more than ready to show more solve the wintry country-house murder. She'll have to be quick-witted, though, to negotiate the volatile chemicals of a cast and crew starting to crack--and locked in a house with a murderer!"-- show lessTags
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ErisofDiscord A heroine with a very similar temperament to Flavia; Enola Holmes solves mysteries and finds missing persons, all while evading her very capable brother: Sherlock Holmes.
61
BookshelfMonstrosity I Am Half-Sick of Shadows and A Fatal Grace are cozy mysteries set in small towns. In each, the victim is disliked by many; thus, many have motives to kill. It is up to the ingenious protagonists to solve the crime.
Member Reviews
It is Christmastime at Buckshaw, the English estate owned by the de Luce family and eleven year-old Flavia has nothing more on her mind than concocting a trap to catch Father Christmas to see if he really exists as her tormenting older sisters have stated that he doesn't. The budding chemist has created a sticky substance that will keep him trapped on the roof of Buckshaw. But then her father announces that he has been paid by a film crew to use Buckshaw to film a new movie starring the glamorous Phyllis Wyvern. Her father has been selling off the silver and doing what he can to keep from losing the grand estate.
Flavia is at first enchanted by Miss Wyvern and then intrigued by the the things she overhears. The vicar of Bishop's Lacey show more has persuaded Miss Wyvern and her co-star Desmond Duncan to give a small performance for the townspeople on Christmas Eve at Buckshaw, to raise funds for a new church roof. But there is a massive snowstorm during the performance and no one is able to leave. Flavia later discovers Miss Wyvern murdered and now has a huge list of suspects and is determined to solve this murder even though the local constabulary would like her to stay out of it.
I think this is my favorite installment yet of the Flavia mysteries. Flavia is a great character. At eleven, she is as smart as any scientist, with a particular fascination with poison, she is observant and deductive, yet still believes in Father Christmas and is forever tormented by her older sisters and haunted by the death of her mother when she was a baby. I love the setting of this small town, post WWII English countryside. The usual cast of characters are there but we see a bit more of them: Dogger, who was traumatized during the war but is a solid friend to Flavia; Daphne and Ophelia, her older sisters who we see a different side of in this novel; her Aunt felicity who has some secrets of her own.
This is a great, fun mystery novel, charming and quirky. And it's snowy, Christmas setting makes it perfect to read this time of year. I enjoyed this very much.
my rating 5/5 show less
Flavia is at first enchanted by Miss Wyvern and then intrigued by the the things she overhears. The vicar of Bishop's Lacey show more has persuaded Miss Wyvern and her co-star Desmond Duncan to give a small performance for the townspeople on Christmas Eve at Buckshaw, to raise funds for a new church roof. But there is a massive snowstorm during the performance and no one is able to leave. Flavia later discovers Miss Wyvern murdered and now has a huge list of suspects and is determined to solve this murder even though the local constabulary would like her to stay out of it.
I think this is my favorite installment yet of the Flavia mysteries. Flavia is a great character. At eleven, she is as smart as any scientist, with a particular fascination with poison, she is observant and deductive, yet still believes in Father Christmas and is forever tormented by her older sisters and haunted by the death of her mother when she was a baby. I love the setting of this small town, post WWII English countryside. The usual cast of characters are there but we see a bit more of them: Dogger, who was traumatized during the war but is a solid friend to Flavia; Daphne and Ophelia, her older sisters who we see a different side of in this novel; her Aunt felicity who has some secrets of her own.
This is a great, fun mystery novel, charming and quirky. And it's snowy, Christmas setting makes it perfect to read this time of year. I enjoyed this very much.
my rating 5/5 show less
My fourth visit to Flavia De Luce found her posh but impoverished family preparing for Christmas by allowing their home to be used to film a movie, starring two of Britain's brightest acting stars.
As this is a Flavia De Luce novel, it's clear that Flavia will discover at least one dead body without having to leave her isolated little village. As it's a Christmas special, it's also clear that the plot will be as plausible as "Miracle on 34th Street". As it's an Alan Bradley novel, it's clear the writing and the characterisation will ferry your imagination into a world that feels true even if it doesn't always seem real.
In this visit I got a spectacular winter snowstorm, an insight into Aunt Felicity's murky wartime activities, a scene show more from Romeo and Juliet performed in Buckshaw's shabby splendour, a gruesome murder and rooftop fight to the death as well as learning about the chemistry of fireworks and more ways of producing poisons at home.
I make these visits in order to meet Flavia, who has captured my heart, In this book her energy is only exceeded by her curiosity as she tries to solve a murder, prove whether or not Santa Claus exists, reak revenge (real and imaginary) on her sisters and garnish scraps of approval and affection from the people she loves.
The reason I visit Flavia is best demonstrated in "I Am Half-sick Of Shadows" by the way she treats Dogger, the manservant at the Flavia's palatial but decaying home. Dogger suffers from fits of the terrors, a legacy from his experiences in a Japanese-run prisoner of war camp. One of these fits overtakes him when he is alone with Flavia. Flavia, eleven-year-old Flavia, eases him out of his attack, banishing his ghosts and giving him his dignity by letting him recover while she looks out at the pre-Christmas snow, reflecting aloud on the billions of oxygen and hydrogen atoms it takes to make the "stiff water" of a snowflake, continuing her monologue until he slips into sleep.
These moments of compassion and companionship fleck the narrative of these books with bright points of poetry that make me wish I knew Flavia and that, if I did, I would be one of the people with the insight to see her for who she really is rather than dismissing her as just another precocious girl.
I know Flavia is a fictional character, but still... fictional characters like her are what make fiction worth reading. show less
As this is a Flavia De Luce novel, it's clear that Flavia will discover at least one dead body without having to leave her isolated little village. As it's a Christmas special, it's also clear that the plot will be as plausible as "Miracle on 34th Street". As it's an Alan Bradley novel, it's clear the writing and the characterisation will ferry your imagination into a world that feels true even if it doesn't always seem real.
In this visit I got a spectacular winter snowstorm, an insight into Aunt Felicity's murky wartime activities, a scene show more from Romeo and Juliet performed in Buckshaw's shabby splendour, a gruesome murder and rooftop fight to the death as well as learning about the chemistry of fireworks and more ways of producing poisons at home.
I make these visits in order to meet Flavia, who has captured my heart, In this book her energy is only exceeded by her curiosity as she tries to solve a murder, prove whether or not Santa Claus exists, reak revenge (real and imaginary) on her sisters and garnish scraps of approval and affection from the people she loves.
The reason I visit Flavia is best demonstrated in "I Am Half-sick Of Shadows" by the way she treats Dogger, the manservant at the Flavia's palatial but decaying home. Dogger suffers from fits of the terrors, a legacy from his experiences in a Japanese-run prisoner of war camp. One of these fits overtakes him when he is alone with Flavia. Flavia, eleven-year-old Flavia, eases him out of his attack, banishing his ghosts and giving him his dignity by letting him recover while she looks out at the pre-Christmas snow, reflecting aloud on the billions of oxygen and hydrogen atoms it takes to make the "stiff water" of a snowflake, continuing her monologue until he slips into sleep.
These moments of compassion and companionship fleck the narrative of these books with bright points of poetry that make me wish I knew Flavia and that, if I did, I would be one of the people with the insight to see her for who she really is rather than dismissing her as just another precocious girl.
I know Flavia is a fictional character, but still... fictional characters like her are what make fiction worth reading. show less
I'm sorry I didn't get this review up before Christmas, but wow, what a fun book! If you know someone who loves a good cozy, this would make a great belated present.
Flavia hasn't decided if Santa is real or not, so she does what she would normally do - she sets up an experiment involving chemistry to see if the big man in red is a fraud. In the meantime, her father has leased the hall to a movie company to film its latest blockbuster. Her sister Feely is starstruck, but all Flavia can see is that this group of movie people is rather unpleasant. And then murder breaks out during a snowstorm, presenting the classic locked room scenario.
Flavia is as much fun as usual and the whole book is a delight. Can't wait for the next!
Flavia hasn't decided if Santa is real or not, so she does what she would normally do - she sets up an experiment involving chemistry to see if the big man in red is a fraud. In the meantime, her father has leased the hall to a movie company to film its latest blockbuster. Her sister Feely is starstruck, but all Flavia can see is that this group of movie people is rather unpleasant. And then murder breaks out during a snowstorm, presenting the classic locked room scenario.
Flavia is as much fun as usual and the whole book is a delight. Can't wait for the next!
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.This fourth novel featuring aspiring chemist-cum-sleuth Flavia De Luce is a wonderful addition to the canon with more focus on Flavia than on the murder mystery. Though the mystery of a world-famous actress cruelly killed while prepping to film a movie at cold and crumbling Buskshaw over the Christmas holiday is never really that engaging, it was the insights into Flavia and her relationships with her friends and family that are revealed which kept me reading late into the night. Flavia, determined to use science to capture Father Christmas, is a charming blend of naivete and experience, a mini-adult in some ways still struggling to come to terms with her childhood in others. Flavia is growing up and asking questions, revealing in the show more process a compelling vulnerability and emotional depth that was less evident in the eariler books. Heck, she didn't even try to poison anyone this time around!
All in all a great addition to any library; certainly a wonderful idea for a gift this holiday season! show less
All in all a great addition to any library; certainly a wonderful idea for a gift this holiday season! show less
I Am Half-Sick-of-Shadows may well be my favorite of the series so far; not for the mystery angle, but the beautifully handled development of Flavia and the setting. Flavia's tenuous hold on childhood is threatened by an ever growing sense of not knowing where she fits in the puzzle that is her family. As much of her musing is about the relationships and personalities among her family members and neighbors as it is about chemistry. In some cases her mental ramble combine the two. One eloquent sequence has Flavia pondering the chemistry of snowflakes, two sister hydrogen atoms and an oxygen flying together. Flavia herself is vaguely unsettled by changes within and without, thus making her need to prove that Father Christmas is real even show more more poignant. New sides of her abominable sisters are also developed, a trend which I hope continues which the extreme meanness of the two as always seemed a weakness in the books. Plus, seems Daffy may have found a hidden talent and Feely a serious suitor. An added delight are cameo appearances of favorite characters from previous novels, one in particular especially delighted me since I remember at book club saying I was hoping she/he would appear again.
However, the mystery is weak. We aren't presented with a body until midway through, and despite the fact that nearly the whole village snowed in at Buckshaw, the list of potential murders is slim. The resolution hangs on the reader buying into a premise that I found improbable. Perhaps with further development I could have bought in, but, not as it stands.
Weak mystery aside, this is a delightful addition to the series which makes serious headway into offering the reader a clearer understanding of the family and their difficult relationships.
This review is based on an advance uncorrected proof provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program with the expectation that a review would be written. show less
However, the mystery is weak. We aren't presented with a body until midway through, and despite the fact that nearly the whole village snowed in at Buckshaw, the list of potential murders is slim. The resolution hangs on the reader buying into a premise that I found improbable. Perhaps with further development I could have bought in, but, not as it stands.
Weak mystery aside, this is a delightful addition to the series which makes serious headway into offering the reader a clearer understanding of the family and their difficult relationships.
This review is based on an advance uncorrected proof provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program with the expectation that a review would be written. show less
It's Christmastime at Buckshaw Manor and Colonel de Luce has invited a film company to shoot a movie at Buckshaw to help alleviate some of the family's ever amassing debt. After staging a scene from Romeo and Juliet, Flavia finds one of the actresses, Phyllis Wyvern, murdered in a Buckshaw bedroom. As one would expect from 11 year-old Flavia, she quickly becomes involved in investigating the case, even putting aside (briefly) her own scientific experiments regarding the trapping of Santa Claus. As a competing forensic detective, Flavia once again finds herself at odds with Bishop Lacey's Inspector Hewitt, as she reluctantly hands over clues she was the first to find. To complicate matters, the town is pounded with a massive blizzard show more that traps most of the inhabitants of Bishop Lacey at Buckshaw Manor, and with it, all of the suspects in the murder (and there are many, according to Flavia's calculations!).
As with each of the other Flavia novels, Flavia is charming and delightful as she finds the dead body, discovers clues, and ultimately solves the murder. In this installment, more is learned about Aunt Felicity, Dogger, and the Colonel, as Flavia pieces together the connections between the actors in the manor and her family's past experiences in the war.
As with the other books, I greatly enjoyed visiting with Flavia again. I couldn't help but upload some of the lines from the novel as Flavia's effervescent enthusiasm for all things scientific tickles me every time, particularly when someone underestimates her and assumes that she would like typical 11 year-old girl pasttimes. This was a fun and quick holiday read and I would recommend it to anyone who loves Flavia and her antics. show less
As with each of the other Flavia novels, Flavia is charming and delightful as she finds the dead body, discovers clues, and ultimately solves the murder. In this installment, more is learned about Aunt Felicity, Dogger, and the Colonel, as Flavia pieces together the connections between the actors in the manor and her family's past experiences in the war.
As with the other books, I greatly enjoyed visiting with Flavia again. I couldn't help but upload some of the lines from the novel as Flavia's effervescent enthusiasm for all things scientific tickles me every time, particularly when someone underestimates her and assumes that she would like typical 11 year-old girl pasttimes. This was a fun and quick holiday read and I would recommend it to anyone who loves Flavia and her antics. show less
Better than the previous one, this was full of twists and turns, yet always plausible and engaging.
But best of all, I am hugely impressed with Bradley's skill: his brilliant (often hilarious!) use of metaphor and simile, his style, the laugh out loud humor, and the suspense. I am intrigued by the ongoing mysteries within the family dynamic itself, too, that are slowly being disclosed over the course of the series.
I have enjoyed countless "cozies" but these are really wonderfully crafted, far above most of the cutesy, gimmicky stuff that floods the market.
Intelligent, droll, and never cliched, they are a little heady, so I don't want to gobble them down one after another. But I am definitely looking forward to the next one.
But best of all, I am hugely impressed with Bradley's skill: his brilliant (often hilarious!) use of metaphor and simile, his style, the laugh out loud humor, and the suspense. I am intrigued by the ongoing mysteries within the family dynamic itself, too, that are slowly being disclosed over the course of the series.
I have enjoyed countless "cozies" but these are really wonderfully crafted, far above most of the cutesy, gimmicky stuff that floods the market.
Intelligent, droll, and never cliched, they are a little heady, so I don't want to gobble them down one after another. But I am definitely looking forward to the next one.
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ThingScore 100
The novel opens with Flavia skating past paintings of her long-dead relatives in Buckshaw’s portrait gallery. The east wing of her sprawling, ancestral home is unheated, she reminds us, so it was no trouble to flood the room and create her own private arena. As she skates she daydreams about a photographer stumbling upon her and snapping her photo, landing her in a famous magazine and show more simultaneously making her older sisters jealous and her widower father proud. The dream is burst, however, by the very real cold of her bedroom. Flavia, of course, is dreaming, and with that Bradley launches us into life at Buckshaw a few days before Christmas.
Like most 11-year-old girls, Flavia is teetering on the question of Father Christmas. Her older sisters, Daphne and Ophelia, have horridly told her there’s no such person, but Flavia can’t quite believe it. So, to prove her sisters wrong she has devised a plan to catch the jolly old elf. Being the chemical whiz that she is, Flavia eschews amateur tricks such as nets and instead decides to brew a batch of birdlime, an extra-sticky glue used to hunt songbirds. Her preparations are interrupted, however, by the arrival of a film crew.
Bradley’s novels are, ostensibly, mysteries. Certainly, each one builds up to a murder, allowing Flavia to insert herself into the investigation so she can, with Miss Marple-esque skills, solve the case either before or at just the same moment as the police. Usually, her investigations involve sly interviews with villagers and many trips on Gladys, her bicycle. This time around, though, the murder is at Buckshaw and much of her sleuthing can be done by snooping through guest bedrooms and strategically overhearing conversations.
Despite the murder and subsequent investigation, Shadows is more about the de Luce family than anything else. It’s Christmas, after all, and along with the holiday’s religious implications are its familial ones. The de Luce family is an uncomfortable one, though, and filled with more than its share of secrets and things left unsaid. As Bradley’s series progresses, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the real plot revolves around Flavia’s simultaneous desire to understand more about the de Luces and nervousness about what she might learn.
Certainly Flavia can solve a murder, but matters of love and relationships continue to puzzle her and engage us, giving Bradley’s novels a much more emotional edge than your average drawing room mystery. show less
Like most 11-year-old girls, Flavia is teetering on the question of Father Christmas. Her older sisters, Daphne and Ophelia, have horridly told her there’s no such person, but Flavia can’t quite believe it. So, to prove her sisters wrong she has devised a plan to catch the jolly old elf. Being the chemical whiz that she is, Flavia eschews amateur tricks such as nets and instead decides to brew a batch of birdlime, an extra-sticky glue used to hunt songbirds. Her preparations are interrupted, however, by the arrival of a film crew.
Bradley’s novels are, ostensibly, mysteries. Certainly, each one builds up to a murder, allowing Flavia to insert herself into the investigation so she can, with Miss Marple-esque skills, solve the case either before or at just the same moment as the police. Usually, her investigations involve sly interviews with villagers and many trips on Gladys, her bicycle. This time around, though, the murder is at Buckshaw and much of her sleuthing can be done by snooping through guest bedrooms and strategically overhearing conversations.
Despite the murder and subsequent investigation, Shadows is more about the de Luce family than anything else. It’s Christmas, after all, and along with the holiday’s religious implications are its familial ones. The de Luce family is an uncomfortable one, though, and filled with more than its share of secrets and things left unsaid. As Bradley’s series progresses, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the real plot revolves around Flavia’s simultaneous desire to understand more about the de Luces and nervousness about what she might learn.
Certainly Flavia can solve a murder, but matters of love and relationships continue to puzzle her and engage us, giving Bradley’s novels a much more emotional edge than your average drawing room mystery. show less
added by VivienneR
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows is a delicious, lighthearted holiday read best served by a crackling fireplace with warm eggnog – but please, hold the noxious compounds.
added by lkernagh
This is a delightful read through and through. We find in Flavia an incorrigible and wholly lovable detective; from her chemical experiments in her sanctum sanctorum to her outrage at the idiocy of the adult world, she is unequaled. Charming as a stand-alone novel and a guaranteed smash with series followers.
added by Christa_Josh
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21 Works 27,953 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
- Original title
- I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
- Alternate titles
- Death in Camera
- People/Characters
- Flavia de Luce; Daphne de Luce; Ophelia de Luce; Haviland de Luce; Felicity de Luce; Arthur Wellesley Dogger (show all 33); Inspector Hewitt; Alf Mullet; Mrs. Mullet; Cynthia Richardson; Denwyn Richardson; Dieter Schrantz; Maximilian Brock; Tom Christie; Gil Crawford; Ned Cropper; Dr. Darby; Desmond Duncan; Detective Sergeant Graves; Bun Keats; Val Lampman; Ben Latshaw; Patrick McNulty; Carl Pendracka; Aurelia Puddock; Lavinia Puddock; Marion Trodd; Phyllis Wyvern; Detective Sergeant Woolmer; Mary Stoker; Bunny Spirling; Tom McGully; Miss Cool
- Important places
- Bishop's Lacey, England, UK (village); Buckshaw, Bishop's Lacey, England, UK (the de Luces' home)
- Important events
- Christmas
- Dedication
- For Shirley
- First words
- Tendrils of raw fog floated up from the ice like agonized spirits departing their bodies.
- Quotations
- Feely and Daffy didn't believe in Father Christmas, which, I suppose, is precisely the reason he always brought them such dud gifts: scented soap, generally, and dressing gowns and slipper sets that looked and felt as if they... (show all) had been cut from Turkey carpet.
Father Christmas, they had told me, again and again, was for children.
'He's no more than a cruel hoax perpetrated by parents who wish to shower gifts upon their icky offspring without having to actually touch them,' D... (show all)affy had insisted last year. 'He's a myth. Take my word for it. I am, after all, older than you, and I know about these things.'
Did I believe her? I wasn't sure. When I was able to get away on my own and think about it without tears springing to my eyes, I had applied my rather considerable deductive skills to the problem, and come to the conclusion that my sisters were lying. Someone, after all, had brought the glassware, hadn't they?
...To Father we were, Daffy had once said, a three-headed Hydra, each one of our faces a misty mirror of his past.
Daffy's a romantic, but I knew what she meant: We were fleeting images of Harriet.
Perhaps th... (show all)at was why Father spent his days and nights among his postage stamps: surrounded by thousands of companionable, comforting, unquestioning countenances, not one of which, like those of his daughters, mocked him from morning to night. (chapter 3) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Yaroo!" I shouted, and I didn't give a beetle's bottom who heard me. "Ya-roo!"
- Original language*
- Inglese
- Disambiguation notice
- "The title of the fourth Flavia de Luce Mystery has been announced by Random House. It is … “I Am Half-Sick of Shadows”... This title supercedes the previously-announced “Death In Camera”.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Teen, Young Adult
- DDC/MDS
- 813.6 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 2000-
- LCC
- PR9199.4 .B7324 .I15 — Language and Literature English English Literature English literature: Provincial, local, etc.
- BISAC
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- Rating
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- ISBNs
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