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The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
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Read The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
Flavia de Luce: Book 2

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (2010) (edit title/settings)

by Alan C. Bradley (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

The story opens with the immortal words 'I was lying dead in the churchyard' (spoken, astonishingly, by Flavia herself) and ends with a funeral watched by the De Luce family on a newly-installed television set. Inbetween, Alan Bradley weaves a hauntingly nightmarish tale that involves Punch... read more

Summary edit see section history

From Dagger Award-winning and internationally bestselling author Alan Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction's most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders. This... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

From Dagger Award-winning and internationally bestselling author Alan Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction's most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders. This time, Flavia finds herself untangling two deaths--separated by time but linked by the unlikeliest of threads.

Flavia thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop's Lacy are over--and then Rupert Porson has an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. The beloved puppeteer has had his own strings sizzled, but who'd do such a thing and why? For Flavia, the questions are intriguing enough to make her put aside her chemistry experiments and schemes of vengeance against her insufferable big sisters. Astride Gladys, her trusty bicycle, Flavia sets out from the de Luces' crumbling family mansion in search of Bishop's Lacey's deadliest secrets.

Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she's letting on? What of the vicar's odd ministrations to the catatonic woman in the dovecote? Then there's a German pilot obsessed with the Bronte sisters, a reproachful spinster aunt, and even a box of poisoned chocolates. Most troubling of all is Porson's assistant, the charming but erratic Nialla. All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can't solve--without Flavia's help. But in getting so close to who's secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?

Characters edit see section history

  • Flavia Sabina de Luce: Precocious 11 year old, the main character of the book. Flavia loves working in her chemistry lab, in particular she is fond of poisons.
  • Ophelia "Feely" de Luce: Flavia's older sister
  • Daphne "Daffy" de Luce: Flavia's other older sister.
  • Colonel Haviland de Luce: Father of Flavia, Ophelia and Daphne. He is an avid philatelist or stamp collector.
  • Rupert Porson: Puppeteer and BBC television star.
  • Nialla Gilfoyle: Assistant to Rupert Porson.
  • Dieter Schrantz: A WWII German prisoner of war. He works at Culverhouse farm. An Anglophile and Shakespeare lover who remained in England after WWII when he was shot down as a German pilot.
  • Mad Meg: Meg lives in Gibbets Woods in Bishop's Lacey and likes to collect shiny objects.
  • Vicar Denwyn Richardson: The vicar at Saint Tancred's
  • Cynthia Richardson: The Vicar's wife who is very critical of Flavia.
  • Robin Ingleby: A young boy who tragically died several years earlier.
  • Grace Ingleby: Married to Gordon, and is Robin's mother
  • Gordon Ingleby: Father of Robin, owner of Culverhouse Farm
  • Mrs. Mullet: Housekeeper and cook for the de Luce family.
  • Harriet de Luce: Mother to Flavia, Ophelia and Daphne. Died when Flavia was a small child while climbing a mountain in Tibet
  • Gladys: Flavia's trusty bicycle
  • Dogger: Former soldier who served with the Colonel. Dogger suffers from post traumatic stress. He is the family handyman and valet to the Colonel.
  • Inspector Hewitt: Police inspector for Bishop's Lacey
  • Detective Sergeant Woolmer: A Bishop's Lacey police officer who Flavia hopes will marry Ophelia
  • Sergeant Graves: A Bishop's Lacey police officer who is impressed with Flavia's detective skills.
  • Aunt Felicity: Flavia's aunt and Col. Haviland de Luce's sister
  • Clarence Mundy: Cab driver of Bishop's Lacey
  • Mutt Wilmott: Rupert's producer at the BBC
  • Sally Straw: A Land Army girl who were women hired by the British government to work in agriculture replacing men who were off at war.
  • Alf Mullet: Husband of Mrs. Mullet.
  • Mrs. Mullet: housekeeper and cook at Buckshaw
Show all 26 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “...she said with something that, had it lived, might have become a chuckle”
    Flavia de Luce
  • “I suppose there must have been times when I hated myself for practicing such deceits, but I could not think of any at the moment”
    Flavia de Luce
  • “She was prattling. If I kept quiet, it wouldn't be more than a minute before she would be confiding her size in knickers.”
    Flavia de Luce
  • “I will be weeping in the bottom of my closet now.”
    Flavia de Luce
  • “There were times, when, for no apparent reason, I felt a huge tidal wave of love---or at least respect---for him, and this was one of them. Pg. 205.”
    Flavia de Luce speaking about her father
  • “Of course I was. It was one of the things I loved most about myself. Eleven-year olds are supposed to be unreliable.”
    Flavia de Luce
  • “Sometimes I hated myself. But not for long”
    Flavia de Luce

Setting & Locations edit see section history

The village of Bishop's Lacey in England; 1950
  • Buckshaw Manor: Ancestral home of the de Luce family
  • St. Tancred's: The church in Bishop's Lacey
  • Culverhouse Farm: Owned by Gordon and Grace Ingleby. The couple provided a portion of their Jubilee Field for Rupert and Nailla to pitch their tent while in Bishop's Lacey.
  • Gibbet Wood: Woods near Culverhouse Farm where Robin Ingleby was found hung at the age of six years.
  • Pit Shed: A former motorcycle repair shop currently used to store back issues of newspapers for the local library.

First Sentence edit see section history

I was lying dead in the churchyard.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 2 of 5 in Flavia de Luce. (standard series)

Preceded by The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and followed by A Red Herring Without Mustard.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Alan C. Bradley (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Jayne Entwistle (Narrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Delacorte Press; First Ediition
Country: USA
Publication Date: March 9, 2010
ISBN: 978-0385342315
Page Count: 384

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PR9199.4.B7324 W44 2010
  • Dewey: 813.6

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Partners in Crime
  • The Elegance of the Hedgehog
  • The Secret of the Old Clock
  • The Secret of the Silver Dolphin
  • By the Light of the Study Lamp
  • The Secret of the Mansion
  • The Mystery of the Blue Pelican

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

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