Flavia de Luce : A Book Series Review

I just finished reading the first three books in the 

Flavia de Luce mystery series by Alan Bradley.

{ these include }

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag

A Red Herring Without Mustard

And I simply loved them.

Loved, loved, loved.  Loved.

Somehow, Alan Bradley has managed to capture the best aspects of both Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys in the humorous, boyish, and credible character of Flavia de Luce, while at the same time throwing in at least one murder per novel, a healthy dose of chemistry, and dozens of witty British-isms (my favorite).

{ Alan Bradley }

Flavia is an eleven-year-old sleuth who lives with her father and sisters in the hamlet of Bishop's Lacey, and prefers to spend her time mixing potions in her laboratory, exploring the countryside with her companionable bicycle Gladys, and solving local crime just before the police crack the case.

(You don't want to miss it.)

Also ... I think they should make a movie of these books and Flavia should be played by Abigail Breslin.

Also ... In case you haven't seen them on my Quotes Page, here are two of my favorites:

It is not unknown for fathers with a brace of daughters to reel off their names in order of birth when summoning the youngest, and I had long ago become accustomed to being called "Ophelia Daphne Flavia, damn it."

- ALAN BRADLEY (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)

 
In order to provide sufficiently dramatic lighting for this story, I must admit to having tinkered slightly here and there with the phases of the moon, though the reader may rest assured that, having finished, I've put everything back exactly as it was.

- ALAN BRADLEY (Note to the Reader in A Red Herring Without Mustard)

But for now I am on the verge of tears because I just discovered that the fourth book in the series, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (from Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott") is not slated for publication until January 2012!

Sadness.