In this 10th installment of Bradley's novels about 12-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce, the gifted young scientist tackles a mystery close to home: an unwelcome discovery in her sister's wedding cake—a human finger.
Alan Bradley masterfully channels the interior life of an extremely intelligent young girl growing up under eccentric circumstances as she grapples with her burgeoning emotional maturity ... The Golden Tresses Of The Dead is as delightful a caper as any tale of severed fingers and purloined letters could possibly be. Along with strong character studies and the fascinating chemistry lessons that are a hallmark of the series, this volume also included quite a bit of information on the London Necropolis Railway and other assorted trivia. It’s always fun to feel like I’ve learned something while solving crimes with our winning heroine, and I can’t wait to read more!
...delightful ... The mysteries in Mr. Bradley’s books are engaging, but the real lure is Ms. de Luce, the irreverent youngster given to such pithy Flavia-isms as: 'Great music has much the same effect upon humans as cyanide. . . . It paralyzes the respiratory system.'
Despite the novel’s patently improbable plot, Flavia’s over-the-top use of alliteration...and proudly precocious, sesquipedalian vocabulary...along with the thoroughly endearing cast of characters, make this series’ tenth installment a laugh-out-loud winner. Fans of the brainy Flavia, who 'dotes on death,' will also enjoy the precocious child narrators and mysterious, twisty plots that abound in Annie Hartnett’s Rabbit Cake (2017) and Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2012).
