There I was, doing the grocery shopping in the middle of the day instead of after supper as I usually do (this occurrence was due to the fact that I had an extra day off work after the Easter weekend). When I shop after supper I usually just go down the few aisles that I need items from, then head to the produce section and wind up in the dairy section. But since it was the middle of the day and I needed some skin care products I cruised past the book section on my way to do the real shopping. Two of the reading blogs I follow (Daisy's Book Journal and A Life in Books) recently reviewed this book. Daisy loved it but Leslie was ho-hum. Since they both seem to read and like the same types of books as I do, I was curious as to what I would think of it. And there it was, marked down for 40% off the Canadian cover price. It was fate!

I was not blown over by this book but I did like it. Of course, any book that features a young girl chemist is going to be something I will like. In fact, I was very jealous of Flavia de Luce. When I was 11 I had a small chemistry set that came from Sears catalogue and I had to work with it down in the basement. Flavia has a fully operational chemistry lab "on the top floor of the east wing" of Buckshaw, the de Luce manor house. I would have given my eye teeth to have something like that.

Flavia discovers a body in the garden early one morning. Being the inquisitive sort she is she immediately tries to find out all she can about the victim. When her father is arrested for his murder she goes into overdrive, careening about the countryside on Gladys, her bicycle. Since the murdered man and her father are both philatelists stamp collecting is covered in great detail. Could it be that the two of them fell out over a particularly valuable stamp? Or did Dogger, the shell-shocked man of all trades for Buckshaw, do him in because he threatened Colonel de Luce?

It's a good thing there is a sequel to this book because there are some loose ends that need clearing up. Like how did Flavia's mother, Harriet, die? And is Buckshaw really going to be lost because of estate taxes? And does Feely (Ophelia), Flavia's oldest sister, recover from the poison ivy essence Flavia put in her lipstick?

I'll be offering this book to someone in my book club so they can have a chance to read it before our December meeting.

This book has been read by a member of our book club (and not journalled) and then by my librarian friend (and not journalled). Now I'm going to give it to my sister to read. Sometimes she journals, sometimes she doesn't. So we'll see.

My sister is in southern Ontario right now but I will leave it for her in her mailbox.

I got this book from my sister and she expects a journal entry from me so here it is. I loved the book. The concept of a preteen chemist and sleuth is delicious and the descriptions are wonderful. For instance one character is described as "an ancient gnome in plus fours, looking like a George Bernard Shaw who had shrunk in the wash". The approach of a bus is described as "There was a rumble in the distance as the Cottesmere bus approached, waddling along the lane between the hedgerows like a chicken walking a tightrope." The book is peopled with a wonderful variety of characters that made me wish I could meet them in person.

I am going to pass this book on to a friend.