Reviews

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

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cathyatratedreads's review against another edition

4.0

Delightful book. I've enjoyed all of the Flavia de Luce books, and this one was no exception.

Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/red-herring-without-mustard-clean-book-review/

vorpalblad's review against another edition

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3.0

3 1/2 stars. I find that when I walk away from a Flavia de Luce novel, I'm first excited, but then within a few days I've sometimes forgotten what the actual crime was and who did it. That can be a bad or a good thing, I suppose. Bradley weaves so much into these stories, that sometimes the crime feels like an aside. Just within this novel we have a clubbed gypsy, two bodies, a smuggling ring, a missing painting, and a secret religion. Of course, many of these are red herrings, but often given enough story time that the main thread is easily lost.

Why you should read it anyway: Flavia de Luce is a terrific character and despite the story's meandering, every little byway and side note are fun little trips into Flavia's world. This third installment really brought home the loneliness of Flavia's life. With her mother missing, and her father with his nose in a philatelist journal, Flavia and her two sisters don't attend school, but are left to fend for their own amusement and education on the ancient Buckshaw estate.

For her sisters, that often means finding new ways to torture Flavia. She seems to give as good as she gets, and often does things that she doesn't realize are hurtful, but then Bradley will throw in a line like,"the idea of burglars inside Buckshaw was unthinkable. That left Daffy and Feely. In an odd way I wished it had been burglars," and my heart hurts for Flavia. Also, in this novel Flavia makes a "friend" of the granddaughter of the gypsy and the way all of the de Luce's react gives us a little insight into how lonely ALL of their lives at Buckshaw are.

After all that I needed a murder or two just to cheer me up. Besides the mystery, Bradley always keeps me laughing with terrific metaphors like "Porcelain and I tore into our food like cannibals after a missionary famine." While A Red Herring Without Mustard may not be as filling as a missionary, it is certainly an amusing little meal with very little aftertase.

jwoodsum's review against another edition

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4.0

Flavia meets a gypsy and solves another mystery in her own inimitable style. I really enjoy this series.

cheesygiraffe's review against another edition

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5.0

A great book to end my reading year with. Flavia is precocious but some of the things her sisters get her to believe make you realize yes she is only 11. I think the mystery is side story and whatever Flaiva does is the real story. Now to start on the next book in the series before #6 comes out in a couple weeks.

liketheday's review against another edition

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4.0

After the interminable opening of The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, I am glad to say that the mystery here gets started within the first sixth of the book, and that the preceding pages are full of Bradley's wonderful writing so it goes by quite quickly. In this go, Flavia sets fire to a gypsy's tent, then attempts to atone by offering the gypsy shelter at her family's estate, then finds an intruder in the house, then finds the gypsy beat over the head and nearly dead. Flavia, of course, is delighted by the new mystery.
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