I fell in love with Alan Bradley and his precocious 11 year old sleuth main character, Flavia de Luce, when I first read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie in 2009. I know that you are thinking, “Maggie, you like slice and dice mysteries…why are you reading these Nancy Drew’s for adults?” My answer is they are so much fun! Sometimes I just need to trip over the body in the cucumber patch!
In I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, we find Flavia up to her old tricks in the chemistry lab (built by her Uncle) but this time she is trying to make a concoction of very sticky birdlime to coat the chimney of Buckshaw mansion. The reason behind this is to prove once and for all to her older sisters, Ophelia and Daphne, that Father Christmas is not a hoax. She intends to then free him from the chimney and invite Father Christmas to stay for the glorious fireworks display that she has also been working on in the the laboratory.
Flavia’s father, due to his increasing debt, has agreed to let a movie production company use the family estate as a movie set which means that Buckshaw will not be decorated for Christmas, which is disappointing,but Flavia soon learns she will have all sorts of mischief to get into with the stars and film crew roaming around.
The vicar arranges for the entire town of Bishop’s Lacey to come to Buckshaw for a special performance of the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet to raise money to repair the church roof. In true English mystery fashion, a blizzard ensues snowing everyone in and setting the scene for MURDER! Flavia, of course, has found the body and even after several warnings not to meddle with the investigation just cannot help herself. A grand “who dunnit” begins and soon concludes on Christmas Eve.
I recommend this as a fun and uproarious holiday read whether you have read the others in the series or not and guarantee you will be asking Father Christmas for the entire collection!
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