Alan Bradley
Anchor Canada
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag is actually the second novel that I've read in the Flavia de Luce mystery series. What a joy this character is! Almost eleven, Flavia has already developed what my mother would characterize as a "unique" personality. Tortured by her older siblings (Daphne and Ophelia, aka Daffy and Feely), Flavia takes great pleasure in plotting their demise. She's well versed in the art of poisons and when she's not engaged in distilling and concocting, Flavia can usually be found flying about the English countryside with her best friend Gladys -- a shiny two-wheeler that was a hand-me-down from her deceased mother. Did I mention that Flavia also likes to solve murders in her spare time? As I said, she's quite a character.
There are so many great things to recommend this series that I hardly know where to start. The characters that inhabit these novels are all fantastically drawn and offer almost as much as Flavia herself. The mysteries are challenging and unlike other detective fiction I've been reading lately, I've been unable to guess the Whodunit half through the book. And finally, the writing itself is beautiful. If words on a page can manage to transport me to another time and another place in such a way that I want to stay in that new world, then I think the author has succeeded in drawing me in. I have tried to savour these novels because I like Flavia's world and I just don't want them to end. Four dastardly plots out of five.
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