"Arthur Dogger & Associates is open for business!"

By: Alan Bradley

Genres: Mystery

Posted: January 24, 2019

THE GOLDEN TRESSES OF THE DEAD starts off with Flavia's sister Ophelia getting married. Flavia is delighted when Ophelia discovers a severed human finger in the cake and she rushes away to examine it...Whose finger is it to and why has it been placed in the wedding cake?

I've only read three books in Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series, but I find the books very enjoyable. Reading them from the start can be a plus to understand the whole picture of all the characters and previous events, but I did not find this to be too much of a problem with understanding and enjoying the plot of this book.

I love reading these books because Flavia is such a wonderful girl. She's definitely more grown up then how she acted in the very first book in the series, but still loves to tinker in her laboratory. With her father's valet, Flavia has started Arthur Dogger & Associates, a detective agency. In THE GOLDEN TRESSES OF THE DEAD, besides the severed finger, they receive their first official case when a woman wants them to investigate a theft. Overall, I enjoyed this book but found the mystery to be the weakest part of the story. The case felt unsolved with too many loose threads, and while Flavia and Dogger explained things to the police, there were too many things I kept wondering about to find it a completely satisfying ending. Still, I loved the storytelling of the investigation and had fun meeting all of the characters again.


Book Summary

Although it is autumn in the small English town of Bishop’s Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Yes, Flavia de Luce’s sister Ophelia is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. “A church is a wonderful place for a wedding,” muses Flavia, “surrounded as it is by the legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar.”

Flavia is not your normal twelve-year-old girl. An expert in the chemical nature of poisons, she has solved many mysteries, sharpening her considerable detection skills to the point where she had little choice but to turn professional. So Flavia and dependable Dogger, estate gardener and sounding board extraordinaire, set up shop at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, eager to serve—not so simple an endeavor with her odious little moon-faced cousin, Undine, constantly underfoot. But Flavia and Dogger persevere.

Little does she know that their first case will be extremely close to home, beginning with an unwelcome discovery in Ophelia’s wedding cake: a human finger.

The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley

The Golden Tresses of the Dead

by: Alan Bradley

Delacorte Press
February 1, 2019
On Sale: January 22, 2019
Featuring: Flavia de Luce; Ophelia; Dogger
352 pages
ISBN: 0345540026
EAN: 9780345540027
Kindle: B07CRB7SCX
Hardcover / e-Book

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