A Red Herring without Mustard / C. Alan Bradley / 391 pages

This is the 3rd mystery featuring the precocious 11 year old sleuth/chemist Flavia de Luce and it is fabulous. There is something so charming about these books that you will sigh happily at the conclusion just as if you had consumed a delicious meal. The books take place in post WWII England on a large estate that is nearly bankrupt. Flavia's mother died when she was an infant, her father has been consumed by his grief for a decade & devotes all his emotion to his stamp collection, and her two older sisters Ophelia & Daphne (one vain and one bookish) torture Flavia incessantly. The brilliant Flavia loves chemistry and uses her knowledge, logic, and intrepid sleuthing to solve village murders. These are definitely cozy and not violent. Although death by sterling silver lobster pick stuck up one's nose cannot be pleasant. Read all the Flavia de Luce books and you will bond immediately with the plucky Flavia who desperately needs the love of a mum and treats her bicycle Gladys like a friend. (What she does to extract revenge on her sisters is very creative.)