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What Time The Sexton's Spade Doth Rust

Alan Bradley returns with a delightful new Flavia de Luce mystery!


I only recently became acquainted with this beautifully written series, and Flavia is already one of my favorite fictional detectives—a precocious pre-teen chemist and an expert on poisons. She is such a fun character! Brilliant, brave, with impeccable manners and charm, she is vexing to local law enforcement and suspects alike. I love her deductions and observations. She is contemplative and clever, with interesting and humorous insights, and wise and capable beyond her years.

The supporting characters are wonderfully depicted as well. I enjoyed spending time with this group, and even though I haven't read all the books in the series, I still feel the genuine warmth and found family vibe between them.


To say this is well-written doesn't cover it. The way Bradley turns a phrase is delightful, and I reread several passages because I loved them so much. The story is layered, engaging, and well-plotted, from the suspicious death Flavia investigates to the overarching mystery playing out across the series. One huge twist genuinely surprised me and turned everything on its head. The 1950s British setting is atmospheric and reveals some of what life was like there post-WWII. I loved this and could not put it down, and between the book and audiobook, I finished it in a day.


Jayne Entwistle narrates the audiobook, and she does an incredible job of bringing the story to life. I loved her narration, and she beautifully captures Flavia's energy, wit, and emotion so well that you feel like you are in the investigation alongside her. It's a fantastic read in both print and audiobook!


This is book 11 in the series, and can work as a stand-alone.


Thank you to Random House Publishing Ballentine Books and Penguin Random House Audio for the gifted book and audiobook!


My steep was Margaret's Hope Darjeeling from The English Tea Store

This book has so many fun tea references and quotes!


PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:


Flavia de Luce has taken on the mentorship of her odious moon-faced cousin Undine, who has come to live at Buckshaw following the death of her mother. Undine’s main talent, aside from cultivating disgusting habits, seems to be raising Flavia’s hackles, although in her best moments she shows potential for trespassing, trickery, and other assorted mayhem.


 When Major Greyleigh, a local recluse and former hangman, is found dead after a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms, suspicion falls on the de Luce family’s longtime cook, Mrs. Mullet. After all, wasn’t it she who’d picked the mushrooms, cooked the omelet, and served it to Greyleigh moments before his death? “I have to admit,” says Flavia, an expert in the chemical nature of poisons, “that I’d been praying to God for a jolly good old-fashioned mushroom poisoning. Not that I wanted anyone to die, but why give a girl a gift such as mine without giving her the opportunity to use it?”


But Flavia knows the beloved Mrs. Mullet is innocent. Together with Dogger, estate gardener and partner-in-crime, and the obnoxious Undine, Flavia sets out to find the real killer and clear Mrs. Mullet’s good name. Little does she know that following the case’s twists and turns will lead her to a most surprising discovery—one with the power to upend her entire life.


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