Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

Sorry for the lack of posts last month. Between the holidays, kids going back to school, and some family trials, life just got in the way making it hard for me to read a book.

But today I just finished reading my first book in months and I loved it. So here you go:

To read my reviews of other books in this series, click here: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, A Red Herring Without Mustard, and I am Half-Sick of Shadows.



Title: Speaking from the Bones (Flavia de Luce series #5)
Author: Alan Bradley
Reviewer: Karen
Genre: Adult Mystery
Rating: LOVE
Alerts/Warnings: Mild Swearing, Some scientific descriptions of death associated with murder mysteries
Premise: "Eleven-year-old amateur detective and ardent chemist Flavia de Luce is used to digging up clues, whether they're found among the potions in her laboratory or between the pages of her sisters' diaries. What she is not accustomed to is digging up bodies. Upon the 500th anniversary of St. Tancred's death, the English hamlet of Bishop's Lacey is busily preparing to open its patron saint's tomb. Nobody is more excited to peek inside the crypt than Flavia, yet what she finds will halt the proceedings dead in their tracks: the body of Mr. Collicutt, the church organist, his face grotesquely and inexplicably masked. Who held a vendetta against Mr. Collicutt, and why would they hide him in such a sacred resting place?" (King County Library System).
Opinions: If you love murder mysteries, you will love the Flavia de Luce series. I LOVE this series. Lets face it, chemistry is not my strong suit, and this series revolves around the chemical aspects and breakdowns revolving around murders. And yet I can not get enough of reading these books. I love how strong of a character Flavia is. She is a beautiful mix of brilliant chemistry genius and eleven year old girl. And she is able to use both facets of her personality to get the job done. I love her tenacity, but the thing I loved most about this book is how much she grows as an individual while her family is going through some grave financial times.

Her life at Bucksaw, her ancestral home, is frail and her relationships with her family are changing as she is forced to grow. I loved that she found a threat of continuity in the mysterious death of Mr. Collicutt to hold on to while everything remains uncertain at home.  Also, with each book I read, I love Dogger, Flavia's father's man, more and more. He is a fascinating, mysterious, in-depth character who teaches and watches over Flavia while taking care of her whole family in his quiet ways. Most of all, the ending had me floored. I instantly had to go to my library website to see if I could check out the next book.  It apparently it just came out last month.  I'm 6th in line.  UGH!!!!