The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

Starred review from November 13, 2017
Set in England in 1952, Agatha-winner Bradley’s outstanding ninth Flavia de Luce novel (after 2016’s Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d) finds 12-year-old Flavia contemplating suicide in the wake of a family tragedy. To relieve the increased tension between Flavia and her two older sisters, Dogger, the de Luce family’s long-serving and devoted servant, proposes an extended boat trip on the river. All is uneventful until the skiff nears the site where a notorious poisoner, Canon Whitbread, discarded the chalice he used in his crimes. Flavia’s hand, trailing behind the boat, comes into contact with the corpse of the canon’s son, Orlando. Unperturbed, Flavia uses her handkerchief to swab liquid from the dead man’s lips, and she and Dogger jury-rig a forensic lab to examine the sample. Though disappointed when the evidence shows Orlando was drowned instead of poisoned, Flavia persists with her amateur detecting, even as she runs afoul of the local constable. As usual, Bradley makes his improbable series conceit work and relieves the plot’s inherent darkness with clever humor. Agent: Denise Bukowski, Bukowski Agency.

April 23, 2018
Fans of Bradley’s crime-solving chemistry prodigy Flavia de Luce will find much to enjoy in her latest post-WWII adventure, which, like previous series titles, is enlivened by actor Entwistle’s flawless interpretation of the plummy-voiced, aristocratic, slightly brattish British schoolgirl. Twelve-year-old Flavia and her two older sisters, whiny Daphne and moping Ophelia, are depressed after their father’s fatal bout with pneumonia. The family retainer, Dogger, whom Entwistle endows with a gruff, avuncular delivery, arranges for a seaside holiday for them. But as they travel down the river, Flavia discovers a corpse, partly submerged in the water. Together she and Dogger, acting as her Watson, are drawn into a tricky murder investigation. They meet an assortment of colorful villagers, including a patronizing, too-shrewd constable; a country-accented innkeeper and his wife; a stern, humorless chemist; and a very proper undertaker. What elevates this mystery is less the disclosure of whodunit than the alluring appeal of Entwistle’s on-target rendition of Bradley’s precocious yet charming young detective. A Delacorte hardcover.