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Description edit
In the third installment of this bestselling, award-winning, sister-poisoning, bicycle-riding, murder-investigating, and utterly captivating series, Flavia de Luce must draw upon Gypsy lore and her encyclopaedic knowledge of poisons to prevent a grave miscarriage of justice. “You frighten... read more
Summary edit
Award-winning author Alan Bradley returns with another beguiling novel starring the insidiously clever and unflappable eleven-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce. The precocious chemist with a passion for poisons uncovers a fresh slew of misdeeds in the hamlet of Bishop's Lacey--mysteries involving... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Flavia De Luce: The protagonist of the novel, and an 11 year old chemist fond of poisons and their makers.
- Daphne "Daffy" de Luce: Flavia's sister, age 13
- Ophelia De Luce: Also known as "Feely"; Antagonistic sister to Flavia
- Daphne De Luce: Also known as "Daffy"; Antagonistic sister to Flavia
- Brookie Harewood: A mysterious intruder in the quiet lives of Buckshaw.
- Colin Prout: Apprentice of Brookie Harewood
- Denwyn Richardson: Vicar of St. Tancred's church in Bishop Lacey.
- Harriet de Luce: The mother of Flavia de Luce, who had a tragic mountaineering accident shortly after Flavia's birth.
- Colonel Haviland de Luce: Flavia, Daphne, and Ophelia's father. He is an avid philatelist.
- Mrs. Mullet: The housekeeper and cook to the de Luce family
- Inspector Hewitt: Inspector for Bishop Lacey and its environs.
- Gladys: Flavia's trusty bicycle.
- Dr. Darby: The doctor for the town of Bishop Lacey
- Mrs. Bull: An inhabitant of the town Bishop Lacey
- Miss Tilda Mountjoy: The former Librarian of Bishop Lacey
- Fenella Faa: A Gypsy who reads Flavia's palm and is later attacked while staying in the Gully at Buckshaw
- Dogger: Caretaker of Buckshaw, and Flavia's friend. Suffers from PTSD.
- Vanetta Harewood: Mother of Brookie Harewood; popular portraitist
- Dieter Schrantz: A former prisoner of war staying in England
- Antigone: Wife of Inspector Hewitt
- Porcelain Lee: Fenella's granddaughter.
Quotes edit
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“"Come on," I said, leaping to my feet and tugging at her arm. "I'll show you what ladylike young women get up to when no one is looking."”
Flavia de Luce -
“If there was one thing in the world that I understood above all others, it was withholding selected snippets of the truth. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I was an Exalted Grand Master of the craft.”
Flavia de Luce -
“"Not even the thought of the marvelous chemical change that forms the stuff- the milk's protiens churrned and ripped apart by the heat of boiling, then reassembling themselves as they cool into a jellied skin- was enough to console me. I would rather eat a cobweb.”
Flavia, speaking of chilled hot cocoa
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Whenever I’m with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company.
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The very best people are like that. They don’t entangle you like flypaper.
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Thinking and prayer are much the same thing anyway, when you stop to think about it—if that makes any sense. Prayer goes up and thought comes down—or so it seems. As far as I can tell, that’s the only difference.
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While the passions and feelings that accumulate like noxious gases inside a house seem to condense and cling to the walls and ceilings like old smoke, the out-of-doors is different. The landscape seems incapable of accumulating human radiation. Perhaps the wind blows anger away.
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I had long ago discovered that when a word or formula refused to come to mind, the best thing for it was to think of something else: tigers, for instance, or oatmeal. Then, when the fugitive word was least expecting it, I would suddenly turn the full blaze of my attention back onto it, catching the culprit in the beam of my mental torch before it could sneak off again into the darkness. “Thought-stalking,” I called the technique, and I was proud of myself for having invented it.
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“May the Lord bless me and keep me and make His face to shine upon me; may He fill me with great grace and lightning-quick thinking.”
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there’s no better way to mask a lie—or at least a glaring omission—than to wrap it in an emotional outpouring of truth.
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“We always want to love the recipients of our charity,” the doctor said, negotiating a sharp bend in the road with a surprising demonstration of steering skill, “but it is not necessary. Indeed, it is sometimes not possible.”
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“… a cup of ale without a wench, why, alas, ’tis like an egg without salt or a red herring without mustard.”
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I remembered Father remarking once that if rudeness was not attributable to ignorance, it could be taken as a sure sign that one was speaking to a member of the aristocracy.
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First Sentence edit
"You frighten me," the Gypsy said. "Never have I seen my crystal ball so filled with darkness."
Glossary edit
- Hobblers: Fictional religious group in the book reportedly founded in Britain in the 17th century by former tailor Nicodemus Flitch, self-appointed prophet of God. Known as "hobblers" for the "peculiar shackled gait they adopted as they paced out their prayers." Beliefs include the baptism of infants only in running water when held by their heels.
- Hildemoer: The guardian spirit of elder branches. In the book, she is reputed to punish those who cut elder branches without asking her permission first. Elder trees were often planted on new graves in Europe and sometimes shaped into the form of a cross. If the tree was healthy and produced fruit, it was seen as an indicator that the deceased was happy in the afterlife.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 3 of 6 in Flavia de Luce. (standard series)
Preceded by The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, and followed by I Am Half-Sick of Shadows.
This book is in 2011 Published Books. (community list)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Country: United States
Publication Date: February 8, 2011
ISBN: 9780385342322
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Country: United States
Publication Date: February 8, 2011
ISBN: 9780385342322
Page Count: 416
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PR9199.4.bB7324R43 2011
- Dewey: 813
Subjects edit
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Flavia de Luce: Official website.
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