In this 11th book in the 'Flavia de Luce' series, the young detective investigates when the family's housekeeper/cook is suspected of murder. Though the book works fine as a standalone, it would be better to have read at least a few of the previous books - to fully appreciate the characters.
*****Flavia de Luce, who lives in the English village of Bishop's Lacey, is a confident twelve-year-old girl who's deeply interested in two things: chemistry and detective work.
In her young life Flavia has frequently used her scientific expertise - and native smarts - to investigate murders, part of her goal being to beat the police to the punch.
As the story opens, Flavia's father recently died, leaving her the family home, Buckshaw Estate. Flavia's sister Ophelia is off on her honeymoon, and Flavia resides at Buckshaw with her sister Daffy, who'll soon be going to university;
her cousin Undine, whom Flavia considers a nuisance;
and Dogger - a jack-of-all trades who was the loyal manservant to Flavia's father, Colonel Haviland de Luce.
Buckshaw Estate was once a regal home, but is in decline after World War II, its best feature being the chemistry lab on the top floor. Flavia notes, "When my great-uncle Tarquin died, twenty-five years ago, he had left behind a laboratory that caused the chemists of Oxford and Cambridge to weep with envy....He has also left behind a treasure trove of his notebooks and journals [which] I had been devouring for years."
This knowledge of chemistry comes in handy when Buckshaw's longtime housekeeper/cook, Mrs. Mullet, is suspected of poisoning a retired gentleman called Major Greyleigh.
Mrs. Mullet has a side job cooking breakfast for Major Greyleigh, and this morning she picked mushrooms, sautéed them in butter, and served them to Greyleigh.....who was later found dead.
Mrs. Mullet is now being questioned by Major Hewitt of the Bishop's Lacey police.
Flavia is determined to prove Mrs. Mullet is innocent AND to identify the real killer before Major Hewitt can. To further her goals Flavia rides her bicycle to Major Greyleigh's cottage, sneaks in, and searches for evidence.
To Flavia's dismay she's followed by her annoying cousin Undine, who wants to be an apprentice detective. In fact Undine pops up everywhere Flavia goes, and proves to be surprisingly clever and helpful.
In any case, Flavia retrieves specks of vomit spewed by Major Greyleigh before he died, and tests the puke in her state-of-the-art laboratory. To Flavia's satisfaction, she determines that Major Greyleigh was poisoned by saxitoxin, which comes from shellfish, NOT mushrooms.
Saxitoxin is found in butter clams prevalent in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and there's an American army base called Leathcote in Bishop's Lacey. So Flavia puts two and two together, and suspects the army base may have something to do with Major Greyleigh's death.
There are additional suspects, however, because Major Greyleigh was a hangman, known to have executed 13 people during his career. It's possible relatives of the executed convicts carry a grudge, and with Dogger's help, Flavia investigates this as well.
In the midst of all this comes talk of the Nide, a secret organization to which members of Flavia's family - including her mother, her father, and her aunt - belonged. Flavia even suspects the Nide may be involved with Major Greyleigh's homicide, for some unknown reason.
All this provides plenty of scope for Flavia's inquries, and she flits here and there to ask questions, and sneaks into restricted places, to further her investigation.
Part of the fun of the Flavia de Luce stories are the historical quotes and arcane knowledge spouted by the residents of Buckshaw. For instance, Dogger observes "It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts" (Sherlock Holmes); and Daffy recites "Truth is the most precious thing we have have. Economize it." (Mark Twain). Even Undine chimes in, talking about a Frenchman called Joseph Pujol who became wealthy by farting musical selections onstage, in front of enormous audiences.
Joseph Pujol
I enjoyed visiting with Flavia and her compadres, but the story took a turn that was too weird to be credible (in my view). Still, I'd real more stories in the series just for fun.
Thanks to Netgalley, Alan Bradley, and Ballantine for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3 stars
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