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Title details for I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley - Available

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

#4 in series

by Alan Bradley
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
What better Christmas surprise for detective-in-training Flavia de Luce than a dreadful murder under Buckshaw's roof - and a snowbound house full of suspects!
It's Christmas time, and our beloved Flavia is tucked away in her laboratory whipping up a sticky concoction to trap that infamous sneak, Saint Nick, and thereby prove once and for all - despite the claims of her evil sisters - that he does exist. But she is soon distracted from her task: Colonel de Luce, in desperate need of funds, has rented the family's crumbling manor house to a film company for the holidays. When its crew arrives from London to shoot a movie starring the reclusive and renowned actress, Phyllis Wyvern, there's no end to the disruptions - and dramas - demanding Flavia's attention.
When Wyvern is convinced to perform a famous scene to help raise funds for the local church, it is decided that Buckshaw Manor is the only suitable location. Its foyer alone is bigger than the parish hall, and could fit every man, woman, and child in Bishop's Lacey, to a soul. It's almost Christmas Eve, but - to no one's surprise - all of the village inhabitants fight their way through a raging snowstorm to be in the audience that magical night.
As the actors take to the stage, however, the blizzard sets in, and it becomes clear that the villagers will have to hunker down at Buckshaw for the night. Sleeping head to toe in the de Luces' foyer seems amenable to most, until word spreads of the evening's shocking conclusion - Phyllis Wyvern is found strangled to death in the Blue Bedroom, with a length of film from one of her movies tied in an elaborate bow around her neck.
But who among the assembled guests would stage such a chilling scene? As the storm worsens and the list of suspects grows, Flavia must use every ounce of her chemical cleverness and crime-solving prowess to ferret out a killer hidden in plain sight. But when she does piece the puzzle together and deduce who has committed this twisted crime, will Flavia be able to escape in one piece?

  • Creators

  • Series

    Flavia de Luce Mystery

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 1, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780385668101

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780385668101
      • File size: 2071 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 930
    • Text Difficulty: 4-6

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 26, 2011
      Christmas comes early for precocious Flavia de Luce with the arrival of a glamorous London film crew at Buckshaw, her family’s country house, in Agatha-winner Bradley’s fourth post-WWII mystery starring the endearing 11-year-old sleuth (after February 2011’s A Red Herring Without Mustard). Flavia, a chemistry prodigy, must push her previous project—concocting a super stickum to trap Santa—to the back burner after actress Phyllis Wyvern turns up dead in a wingback chair with “a length of ciné film, tied tightly, but neatly, in an elaborate black bow” around her throat. The murder investigation pits the cheeky schoolgirl’s considerable deductive prowess against the local constabulary—and puts her in grave danger. With its sharply drawn characters, including the hiss-worthy older de Luce sisters, and an agreeable puzzle playing out against the cozy backdrop of a British village at Christmas, this is a most welcome holiday gift for Flavia fans.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:930
  • Text Difficulty:4-6

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