strange and random happenstance: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

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Friday, November 25, 2022

Book Review - Alan Bradley's The Golden Tresses of the Dead

The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

One would think one's sister's marriage to a dashing German would be the most exciting thing in one's life. They'd be wrong. Because Flavia is far more excited about Arthur Dogger and Associates, the detective agency her and her father's valet have founded after all the cases Flavia has solved over the years. For appearances sake Dogger's name is on the letterhead, but Flavia can't deny that whenever she's come up against a problem in her cases Dogger has always been there to be a sounding board and to offer her keen insight. Yet little does Flavia realize that the wedding will turn out to be far more interesting than she could have expected, because it yields her several mysteries. First, the best man is missing, Reggie Mould is MIA, second there's a problem with the wedding cake. As in there's a finger in the wedding cake. A severed finger. This makes Flavia's day. Not only does it elicit a piercing scream from Feely, but how often are you going to find a severed finger in a wedding cake? What's more, it's not a finger from someone recently deceased, it's been embalmed. Who would want to take the finger of someone already dead? Also such a distinct finger. Because Flavia and Dogger soon discover it is the finger of recently deceased guitarist Mme. Adriana Castelnuovo. But even that's not the most interesting thing. They have gotten themselves a client, an Anastasia Prill. Anastasia is worried about some missing correspondence and needs the help of Arthur Dogger and Associates. But she soon ends up dead. What's more, there's a connection between the finger and Anastasia, the guitarist's son, Colin Collier, is also the nephew of Anastasia! This can't be a coincidence. But with two missionaries foisted on Flavia by the vicar's wife her time is becoming more and more precious. Yet soon she starts to suspect the missionaries. Is everything connected or is she totally on the wrong track?

The Golden Tresses of the Dead is the unexpected ending to the successful Flavia de Luce. Unexpected in that the previous volume, The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, seemed to finally be setting up the next big arc of the series, Flavia and Dogger opening up a detective agency. Instead we got this book, wherein they did start their detective agency, but everything else is a bit of a muddle. In fact, after the initial six book arc, ending with the revelations about Harriet and pheasants, the series hasn't really been on solid footing. Perhaps if Flavia's adventures had continued on at Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy in Canada, transforming the series into something new, it's longevity might have been assured. Instead the series has been slowing declining until it ended with this. And really, what was this? What was the ending? It was all muddled with no real resolution. Sure Flavia finally realized she could use Undine as a tool to help in their investigations, but there needed to be something more. And by something more I don't mean Dogger transforming into Sherlock Holmes. Dogger has always been the most relatable of characters. His backstory is tragic, and how Flavia was the only one able to help him with his PTSD gave them a special bond which has resulted in him becoming more of a father figure than her own father ever was. But here he seems too different. I know he needed to step up when Flavia's dad unexpectedly and unnecessarily died, but he's too competent, too all knowing. Looking at Dogger here compared to where he was just in the previous volume makes me feel like I've missed a step. Something has irreparably changed and not in a way that makes sense. But really, nothing in this book makes sense. Other than the fact Alan Bradley was obviously watching Lark Rise to Candleford while writing this book. I agree, that show is my one weakness too.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Alan Bradley, Dogger, Flavia De Luce, Lark Rise to Candleford, Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy, Murder Most Foul, PTSD, Sherlock Holmes, The Golden Tresses of the Dead, The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Book Review - Alan Bradley's The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Only Flavia De Luce could catch a corpse in the palm of her hand while punting down a river. Of course she's on the river under duress. Dogger thought that Flavia and her sisters needed a distraction and decided a family trip was what was called for. But one can't help but feel the void, the person who isn't present, the girls' father who succumbed to pneumonia. He might not always have been the best or most present of fathers, but he was still their father and his memory is in every stone of Buckshaw, hence Dogger's enforced family vacation. Though there is one thing Flavia is looking forward to before her hand catches on the biggest distraction of all, a new case! The church they are passing in Volesthorpe, St. Mildred's-in-the-Marsh, is notorious for a recent multiple poisoning case when two years previously the vicar took matters into his own hands and did away with three of his busybody parishioners during communion. Murder! And with poison? It's almost as if the vicar killed these women just to make Flavia's day. But back to the corpse at hand. He's recently deceased and rather flamboyantly dressed in blue silk with ribbons at the knee and a single red ballet slipper. Flavia doesn't mind in the least when the local constabulary ask them to stay on as she discovered the corpse. It will give her plenty of time to investigate while Daphne sits in a room reading whatever book she's got to hand, and Ophelia bemoans her broken engagement. An engagement she broke it might be noted. Plus, Flavia has one up on the police, having taken a scarp of paper from the pocket of the corpse. The corpse is identified as Orlando Whitbread, an up-and-coming actor who happens to be the son of the "poisoning parson!" Constable Otter quickly rules Orlando's death as nothing more than a drowning, which Flavia doesn't buy. She thinks it was poison. And while she's in town, she thinks that perhaps Canon Whitebread didn't poison those three women... But digging into the past could put Flavia in danger.

The Grave is a Fine and Private Place is possibly the strongest of the later entries in this series. Ever since the initial arc was completed in The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches this series has been struggling to find it's identity. It's like Alan Bradley simultaneously wants to let Flavia grow up while also keeping her the Flavia we know and love and this has lead to mixed results. She was sent off to Canada to promptly return, her father was killed unnecessarily in some misguided attempt to make Flavia face her own problems versus nosing into other people's. It's like we're constantly moving one step forward and two steps back. And I get the reasoning, I do. Why change something when it isn't broken? But seeing as the whole series is supposed to only take place over about a year it's stretching credulity, like how many years was That '70s Show treading water pretending it was 1979 because they were not going to become That '80s Show? There's only one Christmas in a year afterall... And the less said about the actual That '80s Show the better. But Flavia can not stay in this enforced stasis forever. And there are two things that point to her actually growing. The first is she actually asks one of her siblings for help. Usually Daphne and Feely are just thorns in her side and to be avoided at all costs. But having them forced together for Dogger's vacation and then locked away in the hotel together has lead to some growth in their relationship. Daffy is the biggest bookworm on the planet and it's her literary knowledge that helps fill in the gaps for Flavia. Because there is a secret bestselling poet amongst the residents of Volesthrope and Daffy knows the significance of the work. Also Dogger and Flavia make a plan for their future. Their future being Arthur Dogger and Associates, a detective agency they will run together. This development makes sense. I mean, the two of them are dropped down in this town of poisoners, failed actors, circus performers, and over-the-top theatricals and they still get to the bottom of the case once again. So why not make a business out of it? Here's hoping that Flavia continues to keep moving forward.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Alan Bradley, Buckshaw, Christmas, Dogger, Flavia De Luce, Murder Most Foul, Poison, That '70s Show, That '80s Show, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, Vacation

Monday, January 29, 2018

Tuesday Tomorrow

The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the wake of an unthinkable family tragedy, twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is struggling to fill her empty days. For a needed escape, Dogger, the loyal family servant, suggests a boating trip for Flavia and her two older sisters. As their punt drifts past the church where a notorious vicar had recently dispatched three of his female parishioners by spiking their communion wine with cyanide, Flavia, an expert chemist with a passion for poisons, is ecstatic. Suddenly something grazes her fingers as she dangles them in the water. She clamps down on the object, imagining herself Ernest Hemingway battling a marlin, and pulls up what she expects will be a giant fish. But in Flavia’s grip is something far better: a human head, attached to a human body. If anything could take Flavia’s mind off sorrow, it is solving a murder—although one that may lead the young sleuth to an early grave."

I adore Flavia. I adore how she is always able to find trouble around every corner... she's like the 12 year old Jessica Fletcher.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albery
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong."

Cult author dies? YES!

Poet Anderson... In Darkness by Tom DeLonge and Suzanne Young
Published by: To the Stars
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Multi-platinum recording artist and Blink-182 founder Tom DeLonge once again teams up with New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young to continue the award-winning, critically-acclaimed transmedia project—Poet Anderson—inspired by a Stanford University study on how your dreams can effect your reality.

In the Waking World, Jonas Anderson works as a doorman for the Eden Hotel, dividing his free time between seeing his girlfriend, Samantha Birnham-Wood, and visiting his comatose brother Alan. In the Dream World, he is Poet Anderson, a Dream Walker, a guardian of the Dreamscape charged with protecting sleeping innocents from the nightmares that threaten both worlds.

But Jonas remains tormented by his own nightmare—his failure to rescue Alan from the Dreamscape and free him from his coma. Together, Jonas and Alan fought side-by-side against the night terror entity known as REM. Even though they defeated the vicious monster, Alan continues to waste away in a hospital bed while Jonas’ guilt eats away at his soul.

REM may have lost a battle, but the war continues. His Night Stalkers roam the Dreamscape, hunting for Jonas and the other poets capable of traversing the waking and dreaming realms. And now, demonic shadow creatures are possessing the spirits of dreamers and using their bodies to enter the Waking World.

Jonas can no longer avoid his destiny. To save reality from the maelstrom of nightmares, Poet Anderson will have to sacrifice the Dreamscape..."

I'm pretty on top of it when it comes to anything book related, so HOW did I not know that Tom DeLonge is now a writer!?!