What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust: A Flavia de Luce Novel (Unabridged)
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4.1 • 8 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Amateur sleuth Flavia de Luce, along with her pestilent younger cousin, investigates the murder of a former public hangman and uncovers a secret that brings the greatest shock of her life.
“I love the Flavia de Luce novels! Flavia is the best female detective I’ve ever read, full of realism, self-confidence, and emotion (in roughly equal parts), and her tales are hilarious, engaging, and occasionally heartbreaking.”—Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series
A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Flavia de Luce has taken on the mentorship of her odious moon-faced cousin Undine, who has come to live at Buckshaw following the death of her mother. Undine’s main talent, aside from cultivating disgusting habits, seems to be raising Flavia’s hackles, although in her best moments she shows potential for trespassing, trickery, and other assorted mayhem.
When Major Greyleigh, a local recluse and former hangman, is found dead after a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms, suspicion falls on the de Luce family’s longtime cook, Mrs. Mullet. After all, wasn’t it she who’d picked the mushrooms, cooked the omelet, and served it to Greyleigh moments before his death? “I have to admit,” says Flavia, an expert in the chemical nature of poisons, “that I’d been praying to God for a jolly good old-fashioned mushroom poisoning. Not that I wanted anyone to die, but why give a girl a gift such as mine without giving her the opportunity to use it?”
But Flavia knows the beloved Mrs. Mullet is innocent. Together with Dogger, estate gardener and partner-in-crime, and the obnoxious Undine, Flavia sets out to find the real killer and clear Mrs. Mullet’s good name. Little does she know that following the case’s twists and turns will lead her to a most surprising discovery—one with the power to upend her entire life.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A crime-solving prodigy tackles responsibility and murder in this gruesomely fun installment in Alan Bradley’s long-running Flavia de Luce mystery series. A genius of chemistry and criminology, 12-year-old Flavia might secretly be one of postwar Britain’s top investigators. Since her father’s death, she’s even become the de facto lady of Buckshaw, her family’s manor. However, she’s also inherited something else: responsibility for her younger orphaned cousin, Undine. We were thrilled to hear Flavia discover, with both excitement and horror, that little Undine is just as interested in solving the possible murder of a local recluse as she is. Flavia is an odd but captivating tween heroine, with her giddy excitement to explore the gory details of a crime scene (which narrator Jayne Entwistle absolutely nails). And when confronted with the disturbing fearlessness of little Undine, she gets a fascinating taste of her own medicine. You’ll love following this unlikely pair into the center of a darkly complex mystery.
Customer Reviews
Brilliant! Worth the wait.
For some reason iBooks has this out of order in the series. This is the last book in the series as of 2024 and 100% worth the wait. Great plot twists and all Flavia has to wrestle with inside herself as she's growing up in society that still has class barriers, secrets of the Cold War era, and secrets within her own family. Alan Bradley has made Flavia everything I wish I could have been. What a chemistry wiz! I love her so much!