A Red Herring Without Mustard

Alan Bradley’s third Flavia de Luce mystery, A Red Herring Without Mustard, exceeds in every way, if that’s even possible, his first two. Flavia uses her trademark cunning in scheming to get even with her older sisters who lay in wait to torment her. She saves a gypsy’s life, befriends Porcelain, the gypsy’s granddaughter, solves a puzzling and bizarre murder involving an ancient non-conformist cult, collects clues the police have missed and fearlessly ventures into danger. She is always feisty, always smart. I adore her. And while it is wonderful to read her as an adult I wish I’d had Flavia as a role model while growing up.