Sunday, February 19, 2012

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

About the book: It’s Christmastime, and the precocious Flavia de Luce—an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving—is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces’ decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern. Amid a raging blizzard, the entire village of Bishop’s Lacey gathers at Buckshaw to watch Wyvern perform, yet nobody is prepared for the evening’s shocking conclusion: a body found, past midnight, strangled to death with a length of film. But who among the assembled guests would stage such a chilling scene? As the storm worsens and the list of suspects grows, Flavia must use every ounce of sly wit at her disposal to ferret out a killer hidden in plain sight.


First line: Tendrils of raw fog floated up from the ice like agonized spirits departing their bodies. 
My thoughts: Even though this is probably my least favorite of the series I still found it charming. I love that Flavia is so precocious yet for all that she is still an eleven year old child. In this book this is shown in her attempt to catch Father Christmas and prove his existence once and for all using, of course, her knowledge of chemistry to create an adhesive to stick him to the chimney. If you haven't read any of these yet, start with the first one.

Challenges:
100+
Crusin' Through the Cozies
E-Book Challenge

1 comment:

Jo said...

I've seen this author and series mentioned but hadn't actually heard anything about it. The child sleuth idea sounds very interesting. I'm definitely going to have to look into this series.