A Red Herring Without Mustard ~Alan Bradley

–published 2011
–Delacorte Books
–398 pages
–9/10

In the fall of 2009 an apple green book cover filled me with such delight that I adopted it from my local purveyor of fine books and brought it home. Aesthetic-inspired love soon turned to the real thing as I was introduced to eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, lover of chemistry (especially as pertains to the creation of poisons) and soon-to-be amateur sleuth. Two years on, having turned the final page of the third book in the series, I am every bit as enamored with Alan Bradley’s creation as I was at the beginning.

In A Red Herring Without Mustard murder returns to the village of Bishop’s Lacey and Flavia de Luce cannot help but find herself caught up in the investigation. Alan Bradley’s mysteries rest comfortably in the cozy mystery niche carved out by the great Agatha Christie and others. While paying homage to those who have have come before, Bradley’s books step out of the shadow of the greats in their character examination of Flavia and the members of her family, both living and dead. It has become more and more apparent that the real mystery in the Flavia de Luce novels is not the one sparked by the murder du jour, but that one originating in the death of a young mother which continues to have deep and painful repercussions on the de Luce family.

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Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? ~Agatha Christie

–first publication, 1934
–audiobook published 2007
–BBC Audiobooks America
–7 hours, 15 minutes (unabridged)
–4.25/5 stars

Robert “Bobby” Jones, son of a local vicar, finds himself in the unpleasant circumstances of being the only one present to hear the last words of a gentlemen who has apparently fallen off a cliff, “Why didn’t they ask Evans?”. His curiosity aroused, he enlists the help of his dear friend Lady Frances “Frankie” Derwent and soon they are off doing their best interpretations of amateur detectives. As too-clever-for-their-own-good young people are fond of doing in these Agatha Christie mysteries, they quickly find themselves involved in a case where they, along with the reader, are presented with multiple red herrings before the truth is at last revealed.

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A Study in Scarlet ~Arthur Conan Doyle

–originally published, 1887
–Modern Library Paperback, 2003
–121 pages
–4.5/5 stars

“There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.”

I have taken it upon myself to begin my Christmas shopping early this year, whenever Borders or Barnes and Noble coupons find their way to my email inbox. While book shopping for others goes a long, long way towards satisfying my much tempered book buying urges, occasionally I have to treat myself, don’t I? In such a condition I discovered myself yesterday at Barnes and Noble. While wandering the mystery aisles my glance alighted on this slim volume proclaiming itself to be the very first published exploit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s singular consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. Realizing I had never read this particular volume, and having looked at my small Modern Library Classics paperback collection just days prior thinking that said collection was in want of expansion, my hesitation was but that of a moment before I added it to the handful of books that will sit under this year’s Christmas tree for a certain special lady in my life. And since I was soon to meet a good friend for lunch in that same vicinity, what was a passionate book lover to do to while away the intervening minutes but to open the book and begin.

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