Sigh. When is the right time to give up a long-running series? Last I heard there were only going to be nine books in the series, but this is book nine, and no end in sight*? I’m just not enjoying them like I used to. Which is weird, because I still love Flavia, her family and friends and assorted hangers-on. But the mysteries and plots just don’t do it for me anymore. I find myself having a really hard time keeping my attention on them. Even in this one, where Flavia actually has help from Dogger, Daphne and even Feely, in solving the mystery! Which was new.
*Wikipedia says there will be one more book, but they could very easily extend the order again if they are still good sellers for the publisher.
This picks up six months after the events of the last book, which ended on a whammy. Flavia, Dogger, Feely, and Daffy are on vacation after having spent the last six months in mourning. It was felt (by Aunt Felicity) that time lazing about on a river would do their souls good. What it actually does is make sure that Flavia encounters yet another dead body, this time she accidentally hooks her fingers in its mouth while trailing them in the aforementioned river. I gagged a little when I listened to that part. Flavia has been obsessing over a local murderer named Canon Whitbread, and it turns out that the corpse in the river is his estranged son, Orlando. A Flavia investigation ensues from there, and because she’s in an all new location, not everyone is as willing to help her or give her access to things as they would be at home in Bishop’s Lacey.
I wish I could say I enjoyed this more, but I just didn’t, and it makes me sad. I still love Flavia unapologetically, and enjoy what Bradley is doing with her characterization, but the plots just do not work for me, and I’m less willing to overlook it than I used to be.
I will read book ten, I think, but if there’s more after that, I’m probably out.