The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag ~Alan Bradley

–published March 2010
–Delacorte Press
–358 pages

“From aesthetic beginnings, a relationship was born.”

That was one of many things I wrote last September, when a lovely apple-green book cover in the mystery section of Barnes and Noble whispered sweet seduction in my ear and convinced me to take it home. What followed was the kind of love affair one craves with a book, and a protagonist, that doesn’t happen often enough even when one’s reading consists of mostly good experiences.

You see, not-quite-eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce bowled me over. She was a precocious young lady with an abiding passion for making poisons, a slightly melodramatic relationship with her two older sisters, and the kind of analytical mind that made her the perfect detective when death literally came to her front door. I raved about The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie last year. Raved. Don’t believe me? Click here and you’ll see. I was so taken with the book (and still am) that there are probably those who picked up the book after my review and didn’t understand what the fuss was about. That is always the risk you take when you eschew being a critical reviewer and instead opt for being a passionate reader. But that is me. My reviews come from my experience with the book. And my experience with The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag was no less of a pleasure than it was with Sweetness.

What can I say? Flavia de Luce is a real charmer.

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The Vanishing of Katharina Linden ~Helen Grant

–U.S. publication, 2010
–Delacorte Press
–281 pages
–shortlisted for the 2010 Carnegie Medal

It wasn’t pure coincidence that found me reading Helen Grant’s debut novel, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, so closely on the heels of my re-read of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, winner of that same award. I had been aching to read this book ever since the cover caught my eye last month and had only been waiting for the season to turn towards autumn to begin reading it. However, seeing that it was among those contending for the medal against The Graveyard Book peaked my curiosity enough to go ahead and get tucked right in. Helen Grant’s novel, published in the UK back in 2009, found its way onto U.S. bookstore shelves, with a dust jacket covered with effusive praise by authors like John Connolly and Keith Donahue as well as the more well known British newspapers and an eye-catching cover illustration. I am happy to report that The Vanishing of Katharina Linden lives up to its critical acclaim and its fabulous cover.

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