A red Herring Without Mustard

Locations
Call Number: Adult BOCD / Fiction / Mystery / Bradley, Alan C.
On Shelf At: Pittsfield Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Pittsfield Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Fiction / Mystery / Bradley, Alan C.	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Fiction / Mystery / Bradley, Alan C.	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Compact discs.
Unabridged.
Read by Jayne Entwistle.
Flavia had asked the old Gypsy woman to tell her fortune, but never expected to stumble across the poor soul, bludgeoned in the wee hours in her own caravan. Was this an act of retribution by those convinced that the soothsayer had abducted a local child years ago? Certainly Flavia understands the bliss of settling scores; revenge is a delightful pastime when one has two odious older sisters. But how could this crime be connected to the missing baby? Had it something to do with the weird sect who met at the river to practice their secret rites? While still pondering the possibilities, Flavia stumbles upon another corpse, that of a notorious layabout who had been caught prowling about the de Luce's drawing room.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Another murder in 1950s Britain submitted by Jen Chapin-Smith on July 13, 2013, 11:35pm As this series of mysteries for young readers continues, author Alan Bradley brings us the further adventures of Flavia de Luce, a young genius living with her father and two older sisters in the fictional English town of Bishop's Lacey in the 1950s. The girls' mother had died, leaving their father too sad to handle raising or even much educating his children, who are left to their own devices. Flavia has decided to teach herself chemistry and she particularly enjoys making poisons.

I very much appreciated having a young female character demonstrate so much intelligence and bravery, something I find lacking in many novels for children. Readers should note, however, that as it is set in the 1950s, the Flavia series does demonstrate the prejudices of the era, including sexism and xenophobia. In this novel, Flavia meets with a Gypsy family (the name given to the Romany people by Europeans who mistakenly believed the nomadic people originally came from Egypt). The family endures much of the bigotry that English people of the time directed at them.

I enjoyed hearing Jayne Entwistle read this mystery series as her British accent lends the stories an authenticity not available when one reads it silently to oneself.