Mystery review: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

 

Title: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
Author: Alan Bradley
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2018 (US edition). 363 pages
Source: Library

Publisher's Summary:
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? 

My Review:  
Okay, Flavia is not enjoying the summer. She hasn't been enjoying anything for about 6 months (I won't go into details that would be spoilers for the previous book). But the discovery of a corpse is just the tonic she needs, because Flavia is delightfully unlike most of us, and considers nothing so uplifting as a corpse. Better still if she thinks that corpse got that way with help.

Flavia has been doing some growing up in the past 6 months, I think, as is mostly betokened by the fact that she seems rather less of a know-it-all and more appreciative of her confederates. But her quick wit and knowledge of chemistry help fill in the gaps left by her lack of understanding of poetry or love, and as a narrator she is a delight. I like the new, less brash version of Flavia. She's not tamed; she's just gained some humanity. Relationships that have been left pretty undeveloped through the series are suddenly becoming important, and more nuanced.

The mystery is good fun this time, too. It's not completely certain that Flavia's corpse was murdered, but there is a history of murder in the town, and that provides lots for her to investigate. I was also very interested in how Bradley managed her researches in a place not her own home town, where the players aren't so well known to her. She does seem to have a grip on how to get information where she needs it, and uses well the reality that no one pays much attention to children.

My Recommendation:
I call this a solid addition to the series, and goes a ways toward making me forgive the author for the heartbreak of the last book. There is some debate whether the series is for middle grades or adults; my library classifies it with adult mysteries, and I agree. Flavia may be 11, but the things she's investigating aren't for kids. Your child may disagree.

FTC Disclosure: I checked The Grave's a Fine and Private Place out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

Mystery Monday: Speaking From Among the Bones

   

Speaking From Among the Bones: A Flavia Du Luce Novel, by Alan Bradley, read by Jayne Entwistle
Publisher:  Books on Tape, 2013.  Original Pub., Delacorte Press, 2013
Source: library; Overdrive audio downloads

Summary:
Eleven-year-old (or is she 12 now?  If not quite, very soon to be) Flavia du Luce is eagerly present for the opening of the ancient tomb of St. Tancred, in the local church of that name.  When the body of the missing church organist appears in the upper part of the crypt, Flavia is at once hot on the trail of the killer.  Accompanied by Gladys, her faithful bicycle, Flavia uncovers more village secrets than expected, and rides into the heart of trouble, as always.

Review:
After some disappointment with the lack of development and understanding of the familial relationship in Flavia's last outing, I am happy to report that the story in this case not only comprises an intriguing mystery (which I did NOT unravel in advance of Flavia, though to be honest that seldom happens, especially with audio books, where too much is apt to slip past me for cleverness), but also a more convincing level of complexity in the relationships.  In fact, I found the story very enjoyable right up to the end, where we are left hanging a bit more than I'd like about the future of the family.

Flavia narrates the story with her customary zest, ego, and firm conviction that she can see through to the answer better than anyone.  There are a few places where I either missed leaps to some understanding (due again to the hazards of listening while doing other things), or they were not adequately explained.  I unfortunately can't actually say where the fault lies when I don't quite follow from point A to point B on an audio book. 

Although Flavia is only 11 (or maybe 12--I really should have been listening more carefully), these books are not for children.  She being an innocent (sort of) from 1950-something, there is essentially nothing of sex, but plenty of other darker passions, all given us with just enough humor and style that I enjoy them very much (but wouldn't give the book to a child).  I'm not sure I'd say that Flavia is a wholly believable child (MUCH too smart and too good at chemistry etc. for her age, though she is far from a know-it-all in every area, leaning heavily on her sisters for history, etc., and only now beginning to see through their claims that she's a foundling or changeling, and no child of their dead mother), but that really isn't the point.  She's interesting.

The reader: Ms. Entwistle seems to me to voice Flavia very well indeed, and conveys very well the girl's ghoulish delight in all things morbid and/or chemical.  She puts over a sense of the girl's youth without being annoyingly childish.

This isn't the best mystery I've read, but it may be the best in the series so far.


Full disclosure: I borrowed this audio-book from the digital  library and received nothing from the author or the publisher for this review.  The opinions expressed herein are my own and those of no one else.