Skip to main content

"As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust" by Alan Bradley

By
***
      As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust is the latest installment in the Flavia de Luce mystery series by Alan Bradley. And is the first book in the series that takes place in a location other than the large English estate of the de Luce family. Set in a girls boarding school in Canada, 12 year old Flavia de Luce once again finds herself in the middle of a mystery after discovering human skeletal remains in one of the chimneys of her new home. The story follows her attempts to once again solve a murder, while also unraveling more of the mystery that surrounds her deceased mother's enigmatic past, and the secret government agency of which she was a part.
      I was turned on to the Flavia de Luce series by a friend who knows that I enjoy all things science, as well as strong well written female characters. It has quickly become one of my favourite mystery series. This newest one is almost a complete reinventing of the series, come at just the perfect time when I was beginning to wonder if the entire rest of the series would always be set up in the same way. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust introduces the reader not just to a new location for our intrepid heroine, but also to an entirely new cast of characters to interact with her. In fact, the only familiar character is Flavia herself, while everyone else is a stranger. 
      The Flavia de Luce series is wonderful because it takes the notion that all mysteries written for adults must have adult protagonists, and breaks it apart. You see a girl who seems to be equal parts Harriet-the-Spy and Violet Baudelaire dealing with issues and situations in an adult world while maintaining her fiercely independent and fiery personality. The series is captivating, and wonderfully written, and it is quite easy to find yourself three books into the series without realising it. I definitely read this new one too quickly and now have to go back and reread the series from the very beginning (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) until he publishes the next one.
***
      As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, the latest adventure of Flavia de Luce, is available at the Ocean City Free Public Library.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Proof: the Science of Booze" by Adam Rogers

By
       Proof: the Science of Booze caught my eye when I was looking for something new to read in the science section--specifically in the topic of chemistry. Adam Rogers presents a book that is a comprehensive look at the science behind alcohol and the mystery of why it has the effect that it does...all leading the reader to the grand conclusion of: "we still don't know." Serious examination and studies all lead to the same result of "we know what it does but we don't know why."       So why would anyone be interested in a book that takes eight chapters and almost 250 pages to tell you that much about alcohol? Well, for starters there's a ton of information that is just downright cool to learn about; like the physiological effects of what is happening to your body during a hangover, a molecular explanation about what yeast is doing to the sugars and why it is vital to the final product, or a history of prohibition that you wouldn...
Post a Comment
Read more

"A Banquet of Consequences" by Elizabeth George

By
      Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley mystery series is probably one of my favourites in the style of English detective stories. It's the series that I keep returning to, when I slip into a reading rut and can't focus on reading something new, particularly to the first book in the series A Great Deliverance. While there are lots of decent mystery series circulating now, the first book in George's Lynley stories has a certain grim insistence about it that keeps drawing me back to it. And in her latest contribution to the series, George has written a story that in many aspects parallels her first--however, these parallels did not become immediately apparent until the climax of the story.       One of the things that I like best about Elizabeth George's writing is that she realises that a lot of times, the supporting characters can have better story potential than the main title character. She uses this to her advantage in almost all of the Lynley seri...
3 comments
Read more

OCFPL Book Club - May

By
  This month's book was The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo. T he book club enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was a slow start in the beginning but as the story continued, it picked up speed and the story just grabbed you. The wonderful elements of suspense and superstitions kept the book captivating and wonderful. There are two stories in the book, Ji Lin's story and Ren's story. Both crisscross each other but also have the support of their own in the book. We enjoyed the adventurous nature of the characters. The journey of a dancehall girl and a houseboy on a mission from his former employer. With man-eating tiger on the prowl, ghostly spirits, and death, what is there not to enjoy from this book. The supernatural/superstitious elements and the culture of the time in Malaysia, it brought us to a world we never knew and wanted to explore more about. We hope this get's picked up as a mini-series. It would playout wonderfully on screen.  We give this book 4 books out of 5....
Post a Comment
Read more