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The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The world’s greatest adolescent British chemist/busybody/sleuth” (The Seattle Times), Flavia de Luce, returns in a twisty mystery novel from award-winning author Alan Bradley.
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.
Praise for The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place
“Flavia [is] irrepressible, precocious and indefatigable. . . . A whole new chapter of Flavia’s life opens as she approaches adolescence. Will she become the Madame Curie of crime?”Bookreporter
“Outstanding . . . As usual, Bradley makes his improbable series conceit work and relieves the plot’s inherent darkness with clever humor.”Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“There’s only one Flavia. . . . Series fans will anticipate the details of this investigation, along with one last taste of Flavia’s unorthodox family life.”Library Journal (starred review)
 
“Bradley’s unquenchable heroine brings ‘the most complicated case I had ever come across’ to a highly satisfying conclusion, with the promise of still brighter days ahead.”Kirkus Reviews
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    • AudioFile Magazine
      The estimable Jayne Entwistle minutely dampens our heroine's usual zest in the latest Flavia de Luce 1950s mystery since Flavia is recovering from the death of her beloved father. What better, then, than a drowned body to raise the spirits of our precocious 12-year-old scientist/sleuth? That's exactly what Flavia, her sisters, and their retainer, Dogger, discover whilst on a punting holiday. Soon, the game's afoot, or rather, the portable chemistry set is being used to examine lovely bits of effluvia and skin. Longtime series narrator Entwistle knows her characters and deploys their divergent personalities to excellent effect. She also nicely colors other parts, from village undertaker to grand dame, and aces multicharacter conversations. Flavia fans will be delighted. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      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.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      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.

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