This is another very enjoyable instalment of the Flavia de Luce series. The setting and characters remain interesting and entertaining, Flavia’s narrative voice is as delightful as ever and there’s quite a decent mystery here, too.
The latest scheme to ward off financial ruin is to allow a film to be made at Buckshaw in the days before Christmas, with the immensely famous Phyllis Wyvern as its star. Needless to say, Flavia is in the thick of things (while also planning some very interesting chemical antics on Christmas Eve) and befriends Miss Wyvern; when everyone is snowed in and there is a suspicious death, she conducts her own investigations under the nose of the redoubtable Inspector Hewitt.
It’s immense fun. It’s not very plausible and certainly not realistic, but who cares? Equally, it must be said that Alan Bradley does occasionally show that he’s not English and not from that period as the odd Americanism or anachronism shows up. For example, on Romeo And Juliet she opines “...I had formed the opinion that while Shakespeare was good with words, he knew beans about poisons.” Flavia, in rural England in 1950 would never have said “knew beans”, but again it’s so amusing and engaging that I happily forgave it – and any others.
This series has been reliably amusing and involving and this is one of my favourites so far. Recommended – as is the whole series.
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