Prime Suspect

Flavia de Luce (Sleuth)

 

Alan Bradley's second Flavia de Luce Mystery, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, comes out today. If you missed the first mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, I strongly suggest getting yourself a copy.

Flavia lives in a sleepy English village called Bishop's Lacey. In the summer of 1950, she solves her first mystery about the murdered man outside her window. She uses her incredibly dangerous chemistry laboratory to do some nifty CSI-like forensic tests as well as develops poisons on the off-chance she wants to kill one of her annoying sisters. 

In the second mystery, Flavia has to uncover a murderer who did the dastardly deed during a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk in the village church. I look forward to reading it.

The series and the sleuth bring back a fond memory of the original Nancy Drew mysteries with its setting in the recent past. The writing is free of the incessant irony and cynicism in modern kid/teen mysteries which is a pleasant escape, in my view.

     

Flavia de Luce Mysteries

1. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery (2009)
2. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery (2010)

Publishers:

• Delacorte Press, Random House, New York.

Young James Bond (Spy)

Charlie Higson, a British actor, comedian, and author, was commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications, to write 5 books that chronicle Young James Bond while he was a student at Eton.

The series' huge success can rightly be attributed to Higson's writing. The stories have all the familiar hallmarks of Ian Fleming's novels. The action is fast. Young Bond is completely believable and the villains are wonderfully diabolical. The plotting complex and as fun as anything the grown-up Bond encounters. 

But best of all, Charlie appreciates his younger audience but never panders to them. The novels
are captivating and highly intelligent (like Bond himself). Charlie doesn't write down to his readers. Instead, he forces them to think and learn while enjoying 5 riveting tales that slyly foreshadow the Fleming novels. 

Much more can be learned at the Young Bond website.

Young Bond

1. Silverfin (2005)
2. Blood Fever (2006)
3. Double or Die (2007)
4. Hurricane Gold (2007)
5. By Royal Command (2008)

Publishers:

• Disney - Hyperion Books, New York.