Flavia de Luce Mysteries

Jenni picked up these great little novels last month. They're not particularly travel related, but they were a fun read, and they might be fun to take along on your summer journeys, especially if you have a young reader along with you.

Set in 1950's England, these award winning novels by Alan Bradley feature the crime solving skills of Flavia de Luce, an 11 year old chemistry enthusiast who always seems to find herself in the thick of things when bad things happen in the tiny village of Bishop's Lacey.  

Surprisingly complex and suspenseful, the mysteries are filled with humor and told in Flavia's singular voice. They have about everything you can imagine in a mystery set in post-war Britain; an aristocratic family living in a crumbling manor house, quirky servants, eccentric, gossipy villagers, bumbling police officers, and the odd dead body popping up under mysterious circumstances every so often.      

You learn a little bit more about the characters with each novel, and the fictional village of Bishop's Lacey really comes alive. Throughout you have the indefatigable Flavia out to prove she can solve the mystery before the police can.

I believe there will be 5 novels in the series, and I don't doubt we'll be picking them up as well.  Great stuff.