2010 historical mystery; second in Bradley's series about Flavia de
Luce, young amateur sleuth in 1950s Britain. Rupert Porson, the famous
puppeteer (at least to those who have televisions), was passing
through the village of Bishop's Lacey when his van broke down; since
he's stuck there overnight, he might as well put on a show. But it's
all going to go horribly wrong.
This is a very busy story, with plenty of investigation of Fell
Deeds in the past of the village. In spite of that, it gets off to a
very slow start, with no killing until nearly half-way through – and
while there's some detail before that which will be useful later, it's
sunk in a sea of irrelevancies. Things do rather pick up after that,
though.
The mystery is still the principal point of the book, rather than
the period detail, but it's a close-run thing at times. In the life of
the village, one of Flavia's sisters becomes involved with a German
former prisoner of war who's rather more complex than appears, and her
Aunt Felicity arrives for a visit and is less batty than she seems.
"If you remember nothing else, remember this: Inspiration from
outside one's self is like the heat in an oven. It makes passable
Bath buns. But inspiration from within is like a volcano: It changes
the face of the world."
As with several other "odd detective" series (I'm thinking
particularly of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher stories), one really
has to get oneself very much in sympathy with the principal – even as
she plots to poison, or at least seriously embarrass, her sisters.
All right, there are plenty of errors (the Bf 110 was not "nicknamed"
Zerstörer, that was its designation as a heavy fighter), and one
never quite forgets that this is a Canadian rather than a British
author writing about Britain, but it's enjoyable trottle that gets the
job done. Followed by A Red Herring Without Mustard.
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