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I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

A Flavia de Luce Novel
by Alan Bradley
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows: A Flavia de Luce Novel. Delacorte. Nov. 2011. c.320p. ISBN 9780385344012. $23. M
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England's most famous 11-year-old sleuth returns in Bradley's much anticipated fourth novel (after A Red Herring Without Mustard). It is Christmas, and Colonel de Luce, faced with impending bankruptcy, has agreed to rent the family estate out to a British film studio. The whole village is agog with the arrival of Phyllis Wyvern, famous beauty and film star. Flavia, however, is preoccupied with plans of her own. Ophelia and Daphne, her vile older sisters, have told her the shocking news that Father Christmas doesn't exist. Intent on capturing the jolly old elf herself, she turns to her "savage passion for chemistry" for inspiration. But murder and mayhem have a way of following our impish heroine, and soon Flavia is presented with a crime to puzzle out.
VERDICT This is a delightful read through and through. We find in Flavia an incorrigible and wholly lovable detective; from her chemical experiments in her sanctum sanctorum to her outrage at the idiocy of the adult world, she is unequaled. Charming as a stand-alone novel and a guaranteed smash with series followers. [See Prepub Alert, 5/2/11.]
Reviewed by Amy Nolan, St. Joseph P.L., MI , Oct 15, 2011
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