#9 in the Flavia de Luce series. Not my favorite, but that may be because Flavia is starting to grow up...

"Flavia is enjoying the summer, spending her days punting along the river with her reluctant family. Languishing in boredom, she drags a slack hand in the water, and catches her fingers in the open mouth of a drowned corpse. Brought to shore, the dead man is found to be dressed in blue silk with ribbons at the knee, and wearing a single red ballet slipper. Flavia needs to put her super-sleuthing skills to the test to investigate the murder of three gossips in the local church, and to keep her sisters out of danger. But what could possibly connect the son of an executed killer, a far too canny police constable, a travelling circus, and the publican's mysteriously talented wife?"

I’ve yet to read a Flavia story that didn’t pull laughs from me. Mr. Bradley is also a strong character builder. His characters can be over-the-top but that works in a mystery story better than anywhere else. It helps to distract the reader from the clues. Occasionally, the leaps a 12-year old makes and the knowledge she possesses does seem a stretch but never so much to pull me out of the story.

My biggest takeaway from this volume is the budding partnership between Flavia and Dogger. They work together to solve this mystery. It was the most Dogger has been featured to this point. But it wasn’t only Dogger and Flavia’s relationship that received some attention, those between her and her sisters were also developed.

The solutions, too, was clear yet not. Which is a trademark of the series as much as the humor. It’s a trait that reminds me of Raymond Chandler books. Though the two themes and voices are quite different, they’re both more concerned with characters than weaving a tight mystery. And you know what? That’s fine by me. If I want one of those stories, I can always turn to Christie or Doyle.

I had a harder time following this one, and I didn't feel like it had the same level of closure as the rest of the books. Still a great read, though!

Never mad to read a FdL novel!

I always go into these books expecting a cosy mystery but am always taken aback by the dark tone this otherwise humorous series occasionally takes - for example, this book starts with

Spoiler

the news of the death of de Luce girls' father

. They are still enjoyable, if only for the sake of the unique and eccentric voice of Flavia. I really ever laugh at loud when I read, but there was one quote in this that really made me chuckle: "I had once made a solemn pledge to flay alive and use their skin for a horse blanket the next person who dared call me 'dearie.'"
However, ultimately, this book falls flat - the conclusion just does not feel plausible enough and I was left confused about how Flavia had formulated her theory.

Flavia is one of my favorite literary characters. This book was all over the place compared to the prior novels in the series.

Another fun mystery solved with the fabulous Flavia de Luce. In this instalment Flavia and her sisters are on holiday under the excellent protection of dearest Dogger and Flavia happens to fish a dead body from the waters. Who was he and was it a death of natural causes? It is coincidence that his father was hanged for murder in recent years? What about the gossiping Graces? I loved that Flavia gets to know our beloved Dogger even more in this story, and it looks like there will be more to come.

"There are times when the eyes and ears are not enough, times when you need to go inside yourself, to listen to the Whisperers in the Pit who, although they may sometimes shock you, are very seldom wrong."