The Golden Tresses of the Dead

The Golden Tresses of the Dead / Alan Bradley  
Toronto: Doubleday Canada, c2019.
336 p.

If you haven't discovered Flavia de Luce yet, you are missing out. This latest book in the series, the tenth, is just as fresh, charming and unexpected as the first. 

In this volume, Flavia has just started a detective agency with family retainer Dogger; they are quickly stuck into their first case when a severed finger is found in Flavia's sister's wedding cake (aside - can I just say UGH!) Poor Ophelia is understandably distraught, but Flavia, quick-thinking as ever, whisks it into a napkin and takes it home to her laboratory to analyze it and hopefully discover the mystery it is pointing to. 

The finger just begins their search into a wider and deeper mystery, and as always with Flavia, things are more than they appear. The joy of these books lies in more than the always intricate and unpredictable mysteries, delightful though they are -- it's in the relationships and the self-awareness that Flavia has (or doesn't have) as a 12 year old precocious chemist/sleuth  and little sister. 

The title and its source give big clues to the heart of the mystery, but I didn't see it coming. I was really more focused on reading quickly to find out how Flavia was managing after the last book, and the status of her family affairs. It's the kind of book I like to whiz through to get the lay of the land, and then read again later for more of a studied look at the plot and how the clues are laid down and so forth. 

It's a charming read, with the family ending up in a good place. The last few lines feel very final -- I know I said that the last book, The Grave's a Fine & Private Place, felt like it could close out the series, but I was still awfully glad to see another. That said, I have heard rumours that this one is indeed the last -- and I hope not -- but if so it ends on a high note, with a satisfying conclusion all around. 

Excellent series, I can't recommend it highly enough.