Book #20: A Red Herring Without Mustard

So here it is, book number 20 of the year! This time it's the third book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series. I really enjoyed the first two books, so had been looking forward to the next few in the series which I had ready to read in my book pile. Having finished Goblet of Fire, I plunged headlong back into the world of Flavia de Luce for the next instalment, A Red Herring Without Mustard. Here goes with my write up...

I've got to admit, I really love this series, it's clever, witty and has a real air of Britishness about it. Opening the book, it's always a pleasure to find a map at the front to help you really draw a picture in the mind of where everything is. This gets the book off to a great start for me, and I found myself flicking back and forth to work out where things fitted in.

So the story; once again, in the space of a few months, Flavia finds herself at the epicentre of yet another murder in Bishop's Lacey, it really is turning into Midsomer or Saint Marie with the number of bodies that keep turning up! This time the story is set around the mysteries of the Gypsy fortune teller, and of cult-like religions. Like in the previous books, discoveries of secondary bodies help Flavia along the road to solving a complicated murder, full of Red Herrings and intrigue.

As well as the obvious murder investigations, with Flavia being shot down by the police who just want to get on with their job without a meddling 11 year old doing the job for them, there are other storylines running throughout the book. The first is the fractious relationship between Flavia and her two older sisters, Daffy and Feely. I'm glad of this (for want of a better word) feud between Flavia and the other two, without it the reader wouldn't be subjected to the brilliant revenges that Flavia cooks up in her laboratory.... seriously who lets an 11 year old loose unsupervised with dangerous chemicals! It's brilliant.

Secondly, the book touches upon Flavia's loneliness, whilst she has her sisters for company, as mentioned above, they're tormentors, rather than friends. She's 11 but from what you can tell from the first two books, she doesn't have anyone who you could call a friend to her, so it's refreshing to see her drop her guard and gain someone close to her age who could be called a friend.

Finally the decline of the family fortunes. Throughout the first two books, their wealth (or lack of) is hinted at, but this is the first book where the family fortune is completely in jeopardy. The family home is at risk and I really feared that this could be the final book set in their ancestral home.

I really enjoyed the book, it didn't take 150 pages for the murder to take place this time, it was a lot quicker! Whilst I didn't mind that in the last book, it meant that there was a lot more time for Flavia to conduct her investigations, venturing out of Bishop's Lacey into its environs. I particularly like the development of the relationship between Flavia and the erstwhile Inspector Hewitt, the lead investigator on all of these murders! Where would he be without her. But my favourite character (is it right to call it a character) is Flavia's actual sidekick, Gladys. She's always there for Flavia when she needs her, helping her to get from A-Z and never complaining. Gladys is of course Flavia's bike. But she's treated as much as a character as anyone else, and I love it!

I'm glad I had book 4 ready to go, as I'm really enjoying this series, really enjoying it! Onto book #21!

A Red Herring Without Mustard: 3cm

Total Read so far: 20 books, 60.5cm

Total to goal: 132.5cm