devon_reads 's review for:

What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley

4.0

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3.5 rounded up! I adored my first Alan Bradley book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, which I read about 13 years ago. It was such a delight to discover that he had continued the series when I stumbled upon an ARC available for request on NetGalley (big thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Bantam). Seeing Flavia still solving mysteries years later brought me so much joy. While this installment seemed a touch darker than my initial encounter with Flavia De Luce, I found it added more fun and suspense to the mystery. Not sure how I feel about Udine, and I sensed there were significant gaps between the first book and What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust. It’s not the type of series where you can jump in anywhere; although I did so and still enjoyed it, I can imagine it being far more entertaining with a few missing pieces of Flavia’s and her family’s backstory. I’m definitely planning to catch up on books 2 - 10 of the Flavia de Luce series now. They're a perfect cozy mysteries on rainy afternoons.