I see I’m not the only one unthrilled by this second book. There are no spoilers in what follows, but if you loved the first one and are excited for this one, read no further. Or if you do, don’t complain to me that I killed your joy.

This story meandered way too much to keep my interest, and I thought the plot was dreadfully thin. Lots of window dressing and trying too hard to be cute. It felt very much like a 70-something-year-old man trying to sound like an 11-year-old girl. And of course, th
I see I’m not the only one unthrilled by this second book. There are no spoilers in what follows, but if you loved the first one and are excited for this one, read no further. Or if you do, don’t complain to me that I killed your joy.

This story meandered way too much to keep my interest, and I thought the plot was dreadfully thin. Lots of window dressing and trying too hard to be cute. It felt very much like a 70-something-year-old man trying to sound like an 11-year-old girl. And of course, that’s exactly what it is, but it wasn’t so noticeable in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.
You have to read nearly half the book before the actual mystery is introduced, and then the story continues to wander hither and yon. It had its moments, but didn’t add up to much when the tale was finished.
Furthermore, the entire thing was so larded down with inapt similes that it was at times unbearable to continue. Am I the only one who noticed this? I couldn’t decide whether to hurl the book against the wall—or just plain HURL!!

I thought the first book was far more charming and entertaining. I didn’t hate The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, but I won’t be continuing with the series.
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These are cute, cute, cute books! I don’t buy it, a kid being this kind of smart, but I don’t care. The plot’s a little on the thin side, but I don’t care. The fun of these books is the delightful fantasy of Eng-er-land post-WWII seen through the eyes of eleven-year-old Flavia, daughter of decayed privilege.

The murdered man, a puppeteer/drug dealer, *richly* deserved killing, which always makes a mystery more fun for me. His relict, of sorts, is of course a suspect, but her Delicate Condition (w
These are cute, cute, cute books! I don’t buy it, a kid being this kind of smart, but I don’t care. The plot’s a little on the thin side, but I don’t care. The fun of these books is the delightful fantasy of Eng-er-land post-WWII seen through the eyes of eleven-year-old Flavia, daughter of decayed privilege.

The murdered man, a puppeteer/drug dealer, *richly* deserved killing, which always makes a mystery more fun for me. His relict, of sorts, is of course a suspect, but her Delicate Condition (which Flavia suspects, and confirms by a chemical test that I’d never heard of before) ends up eliminating her…and shortly after she is in the clear, she buggers off somewhere…but I suspect that she’ll be back.

The murderer, when identified, made me smile. I was so hoping the guilty party would be who it turned out to be, since I took an instant and complete aversion to that person. Not always a reliable indicator of guilt, but in this case…! Yippee!

So why read this? Because it’s fun. Because it’s frothy. Because it’s summer, and because it’s worth a few hours of your time to escape your ordinary world for the exciting world of Flavia de Luce.
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