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Published Jan 2013
400 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Eleven-year-old amateur detective and ardent chemist Flavia de Luce is used to digging up clues, whether they're found among the potions in her laboratory or between the pages of her insufferable sisters' diaries. What she is not accustomed to is digging up bodies. Upon the five-hundredth anniversary of St. Tancred's death, the English hamlet of Bishop's Lacey is busily preparing to open its patron saint's tomb.
Nobody is more excited to peek inside the crypt than Flavia, yet what she finds will halt the proceedings dead in their tracks: the body of Mr. Collicutt, the church organist, his face grotesquely and inexplicably masked. Who held a vendetta against Mr. Collicutt, and why would they hide him in such a sacred resting place? The irrepressible Flavia decides to find out. And what she unearths will prove there's never such thing as an open-and-shut case.
"Starred Review. Memorable, often funny prose complements the crafty plot of Bradley's fifth Flavia de Luce novel." - Publishers Weekly
"The Flavia bandwagon rolls on: Not only will she star in five more novels, but she'll also shine in several made-for-television films." - Kirkus
Bradley's Flavia cozies, set in the English countryside, have been a hit from the start, and this fifth in the series continues to charm and entertain, as Flavia - so intellectually mature yet socially unschooled - takes advantage of being able to go about unnoticed because of her youth. A final cliff-hanger guarantees interest in the next installment." - Booklist
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Shirley Bradley
Alan Bradley was born in Toronto, Ont. and grew up in the pleasant lakeside town of Cobourg, Ont. After a long career in television broadcasting, he took early retirement from the University of Saskatchewan to write full-time. He has published many children's stories as well as lifestyle and arts columns in Canadian newspapers. His adult stories have been broadcast on CBC radio and published in various literary journals. He has also written several screenplays and taught university-level courses in screenwriting. He was the recipient of the first Saskatchewan Writers Guild Award for Children's Literature. After writing for several years on the Maltese island of Gozo, Alan Bradley now lives on the Isle of Man.
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