Looking for a fun mystery series while waiting for The Running Grave? Try Flavia de Luce!

 

While googling the name "Flavia" yesterday, in search of any meaning that might be relevant to the precocious aspiring detective of The Ink Black Heart, I came across a series I had not heard of before, which is, in all likelihood, the inspiration for Flavia Upcott's name. 

The Flavia de Luce Mysteries are an acclaimed series of books by Canadian writer Alan Bradley. Set in an English manor in the 1950's, the protagonist is 11-year-old Flavia de Luce, chemistry prodigy and put-upon youngest child of a widowed, stamp-collecting father. The first book, A Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, unfolds as Flavia discovers a body in the family cucumber patch, and winds up in a quest to prove her father innocent of the crime. Per Mr. Bradley's description, young Flavia, "just materialized" and "walked onto the page of another book I was writing, and simply hijacked the story." The author wound up submitting a chapter and a synopsis to the debut Dagger contest in 2007, winning it and securing a three-book deal from that sample alone. Yes, Flavia had that much appeal. The series, which debuted in 2009,  has now expanded to 10 books, plus one short story, with the last volume published in 2019.

Is this a young adult series?  It depends on whom you ask. It was nominated and won awards intended for YA fiction, but it also was nominated and won awards for general mystery works intended for adults. It seems to be a series that, like Harry Potter and A Wrinkle in Time, has a child protagonist but multi-age appeal.  I'm only a few hours into the first audio-book, but I've seen enough written online to conclude this is true. See these accounts at Book Riot and Paste Magazine for a more informed opinion. 

I immediately got the first volume in the series on audio, and have been listening to it during my commute and chore time ever since. So far, it's a delight and I anticipate blogging about as I progress through the series. The only challenge will be balancing this new treasure with my re-read of Cormoran Strike, but hopefully I'll find time for both.