I do not know why I have put off listening to this series. I should be ashamed of myself. I guess it was because every publication crowed how wonderful it was. I am usually very wary of those kind of recommendations. They really don't turn out well for me. But as I was driving to Chicago I figured why not. I have been handsomely rewarded.
We meet 11 year old Flavia de Luce who lives with her family in a slowly disintegrating house (Buckshaw) in the middle of the British countryside. She has two older sisters who are interested in reading and themselves. Her father is in his study looking at his beloved stamp albums. So Flavia has been left to her own devices and having rather a quick and agile mind, reads the textbooks about chemistry in the laboratory in the attic of the house. One morning she discovers a dying man in the garden and immediately knows he will cause trouble for her family. The police are summoned and Flavia is summarily dismissed which erks her to no end. She decides she will solve the case in her own manner.
You can imagine what this young lady will get up to. She uses her brain and makes assumptions, hypotheses, and conclusions in order to find the answers. As it turns out she is sometimes ahead of the police which surprises them. I love the asides about her family history especially about the spectacular failures of her uncles. She is snarky about her sisters and the plans for revenge verge on the awesome. I am rather fond of this 11 year old precocious and delightful young lady.
The narrator for this series is beyond awesome. Jayne Entwistle gets it perfect and the tone and range are just wonderful. I can't imagine anyone else doing the reading. We actually feel as if Flavia is sitting down with us and telling the story over a cup of tea. Astounding and wonderful. I recommended this to higher middle grades, teens and adults. No language but descriptions could be a little uncomfortable. Flavia has some tight scrapes but not overly dramatized. I am definitely looking forward to the next one The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag.
Six Degrees of Reading: Full Dark House: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler, Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas, The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King.
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