This seems to be my month for beloved characters in some of my favorite series to be vexing me by being in an unusual setting! First, Rev. Max Tudor, and now Flavia de Luce! Still, Flavia is still as charming as ever even thousands of miles away from home.
For the first time in her life (and ours), Flavia travels away from her family and her beloved Buckshaw, all the way to Canada to attend her mother's alma mater, Miss Bodycote's Female Academy. Soon after her arrival at the school a mummified body wrapped in the Union Jack falls out of the chimney in her room. This incident vastly improves Flavia's predicament, a mystery to be solved literally being dumped at her feet. Attempting to discover the identity of the victim and figuring out how to distinguish between friends and enemies ease some of Flavia's homesickness and sense of isolation. Being granted access to the school's state of the art science labs and the veiled references to "duty" and following in her mother's footsteps spur Flavia on to solve this new mystery. Of course the question in every reader's mind will be, "What about Buckshaw?"
I have to admit that this was my least favorite Flavia de Luce mystery so far,. The crumbling estate that Flavia calls home and her relationships with her family, Dogger, and the local police all serve to add a special flavor to the series that is missing here for me. I would definitely recommend this book, but fans should be aware that it's going to feel a little bit different from what you might expect.
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