Dear Fellow Reader,

It is my age-old story. I have been reading but not writing. I have been on a binge reading cycle. And what got me here? I found not one, not two, but three new mystery authors and I have been busy reading their series.

I am not sure how I found the first author, but I will admit that the series had a slow start for me. It helped that most of the series was available immediately through my library on eBooks. The funny part is that now that I am ready to read the last book in the series, I am waiting to get it from the library. I

The first book in Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. The stories take place in England in the 1950’s. The detective is 12-year-old Flavia de Luce. Flavia has not had a typical life. She lives in the family estate, Buckshaw, that is crumbling down around her. She lives with her father and her two sisters (Ophelia and Daphne) and two staff members, Mrs. Mullet (the cook), and Dogger. Dogger is sort of a butler and general overseer.  She has not had a lot of formal schooling but spends most of her time in the chemistry lab that her great-uncle had in the house. She has learned chemistry by reading all the books, journals, and notebooks he left behind. As a result, she knows a lot about poisons.

The story is told from Flavia’s perspective. She doesn’t have a lot of experience with people and (after all) she is 12 and her perspective is often affected by her age. But she is engaging in this first story and she gets better as the books progress.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I was going to continue the series after the first book. But somehow, I started reading the second book (I was probably avoiding doing something else.) And then I just kept going back to the stories between other books.  Flavia has really grown on me. I think she got better as the books progressed.

Next week’s mystery series also set in England but it is set in the years between the World Wars. Bring on Verity Kent! Another female detective. Oh my gosh, I just figured out that all my new series are female detectives. See, more of a streak than I realized.

The books in the series (in order) are:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

A Red Herring Without Mustard

I am Half-Sick of Shadows

Speaking from Among the Bones

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’s

The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place

The Golden Tresses of the Dead

Thanks for reading!