Book H00t #26 The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

Flavia de Luce, eleven year old precocious sleuth of the village Bishop's Lacey is back! And she's caught up in another murder in the delightful The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley.

No spoilers here, I'll just tell you how much I love Flavia and her hateful sisters Feely and Daffy. The chapters where Flavia puts her poisoner's skills to work against horrible Feely are genuinely laugh out loud. There is much more fun to be had between those two characters.

The murder and events surrounding it are a tad darker than in The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie, however there are also many funny scenes. I liked Flavia's attempt to get Dogger (the family's gardener/ butler/ handyman) to explain the "mechanical details" of what exactly happens during an affair. Her only point of reference is Madam Bovary:

'What did Flaubert mean,' I asked at last, 'when he said that Madame Bovary gave herself to Rodolphe?'
'He meant,' Dogger said, 'that they became the best of friends. The very best of friends.'

There were also some excellent lines about the BBC as a famous television puppeteer of the (fabulously named) show 'Snoddy The Squirrel' plays an important role, but I'll let you discover those yourself.

Yarooh! for the latest installment of Flavia de Luce! Don't you love it when a much anticipated novel meets all expectations?

Happy tales,
Barking Owl