Dear Fellow Reader,

I am interrupting myself with this post. In the last post, I told you that I was going to tell you about three new to me mystery writers that I had been binging on. Last week, I talked about the Alan Bradley series featuring Flavia de Luce. I also mentioned that I had not be able to readily download Alan Bradley’s final book in the Flavia de Luce series.

On Friday, I picked up the book at the library. The book, The Golden Tresses of the Dead. The book starts out at Flavia’s sister Ophelia’s wedding. There were a few hiccups during the ceremony but the big problem it comes time for Feely and Dieter go to cut the cake. Feely starts screaming and has to be taken away. Flavia runs up to check to see what bothered her sister so much. It seems there is a severed finger in the cake. Flavia, of course, takes the finger for analysis. She and Dogger feel that the finger was from the famous Spanish guitar impresario, Adriana Castelnuovo, who had died in the month or so preceding the wedding. But they are pulled off the immediate work of trying to find out how and why the finger ended up in Feely’s cake by the appearance the next morning of Mrs. Prill at their door. Mrs. Prill had consulted the local vicar and the local doctor who recommended that she seek the help of Flavia and Dogger. She is seeking their help because some very private letters have disappeared from her house. She needs to have the letters recovered. So, Flavia and Dogger have two investigations although the investigation into the missing letters quickly morphs into the investigation of Mrs. Prill’s murder.

I hate to say it but I had a problem with several parts of this book. First off, the chemical formulas that are discussed seem endless. I am impressed that the author learned so much about chemistry (What do I know? I assume he is correct.) but it seems overdone. Then the premise for the severed finger and the murdered woman is very twisted and they don’t really solve the crimes. They get to a certain point and turn the issues over to the police and that is the end of the book. I was pretty irritated.

So, last week I was telling you to read this series. I would still say that but I would skip the last book. I know it is hard to do but there are better books to read. Even for us who like to finish series, this is the time to let it go.

Thanks for reading!