Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d: A Flavia de Luce Novel

Returning to her home in Buckshaw, England after her banishment from Miss Boycott’s Female Academy in Canada, young Flavia de Luce is looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home with her family. Unfortunately for her, that is not to be the case.

In Alan Bradley’s Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d the precocious, mystery-solving pre-teen is up to her usual antics. Having been informed upon arrival that her father is in the hospital with pneumonia and that she and her sisters are not permitted to visit him due to his fragile health, Flavia agrees to run an errand for the vicar’s wife, Cynthia Richardson, in order to keep herself occupied. In true Flavia de Luce fashion, the routine turns out to be something much more interesting, with the discovery of 70-year-old woodworker Roger Sambidge crucified upside down on the back of his bedroom door. While investigating the crime scene, she finds a set of Oliver Inchbold’s children’s books (odd reading material for a man his age), which sparks a number of questions leading to many paths of investigation.

Flavia brings her considerable powers of deduction to bear as she discovers clues, makes connections, and eventually solves the mystery, which, coincidentally, her beloved Inspector Hewitt will be getting the credit for. Though this is my first enjoyable foray into the world of Flavia de Luce, it will certainly not be my last!