The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley: A Review

“‘I’m just a girl,’ I said, hating myself even as I said it. ‘Ever so many girls have mousy hair. I’m just one of the mice.'” – Alan Bradley, The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place

Apologies, dear readers! I’m afraid the holidays have me way behind schedule posting my December blogs. I will do my best to have everything back on track for you before the new year. I will post on each of the Jolabokaflod books in the coming days, and hopefully you will have the chance to put your feet up and do some reading too.

If you have never read on of Alan Bradley’s “Flavia de Luce” mysteries, I would recommend starting with the first book in the series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Bradley is Canadian but the novels are set in the English countryside in the early 1950s. Throughout the series, Bradley is able to play on conventional British murder mysteries but his choice of detective (an eleven-year-old girl with braids, knee socks, and a passion for chemistry) makes them stand out. The main character, Flavia, is a refreshing change as a sleuth; instead of a hardbitten former police officer with a drinking problem and an ex-wife,  picture Sherlock Holmes meets Wednesday Addams and you will have an idea. Flavia is brilliant and maybe just slightly intrigued by all things death. Bradley infuses his novels with dark humour as Flavia judges (and often finds lacking)  the wit of the adults around her.

If you have read other novels from this series, then this one won’t disappoint. On a boating afternoon with her sisters and their loyal servant, Dogger, Flavia discovers the corpse of a young actor drowned in the river. This unexpected turn of events forces the group to stay in the local village while Flavia, often slowed by the efforts of the police investigation, attempts to solve the mystery of the actor’s death. Often frustrated by being the target of condescension and suspicion, Flavia never doubts her own intellect and flouts authority and rules in order to be the one to solve the case. True to his style, Bradley colours the novel with local eccentrics and looming dangers that threaten Flavia as she comes to close to revealing the truth. Set against the back story of the family’s recent loss of their father, the mystery can also be read as Flavia’s attempt to find order and predictability in the chaos their lives have been thrown into.

I can’t help but be charmed by these novels every time I pick one up. They are both familiar and unexpected at once. Bradley’s wry humour is contrasted by surprising moments of vulnerability as Flavia tries to overcome the grief and worry her father’s death has left behind by portraying herself as a cool and saavy detective. She is one of my absolute favourite fictional people and if you are looking for a good mystery over the holidays, one of Bradley’s novels would be worth picking up.