whosemuse 's review for:

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

4.0

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I didn't know that the previous Flavia de Luce novel was supposed to be the last -- I think I read it in a review or blurb after I'd begun reading this one. So, I guess this was a bonus. I waffled a bit between 3 and 4 stars for this review, since I do find Flavia a little tiresome, but I decided to bump it up because it was actually pretty entertaining. I love Flavia's relationship with her cousin Undine, and I am impressed by Flavia's ability to move through the world as a functioning human despite her lack of parental guidance, her estrangement from her older sisters, and really very few intimate relationships at all. I do have to constantly remind myself she is only 12 years old -- something I've had to do with this series right from the start. Anyway, in this outing, Flavia must get her housekeeper (and only vaguely parental figure), Mrs Mullet, off the hook when she is accused of murdering a local (retired) hangman. I must say, much is made of his hermit-ness in the blurb, but we don't even get to know him at all, since the first thing we learn of him is that he's dead. A few details come to light later, in the course of Flavia's investigation, but he is really just an incidental character, as the discoveries that Flavia makes have much bigger implications for her own life, and those revelations just rattle on down the chain. It did feel as if Bradley is setting up for at least one more novel, since some pretty big stuff is revealed, particularly about the shadowy organization known as the Nide, which Flavia became aware of in at least one earlier book. Her own family (what is left of it) appears inextricably linked, and possibly imperiled, by this organization, and I do see places where this narrative could go, down that path. Maybe Bradley does too.