The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

This is the ninth in the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. Flavia is now 12, and reeling from a family tragedy. Dogger, loyal servant that he is, suggests a boating trip for her and her two older sisters as a necessary escape from moping about the house. Dogger took them boating near a church where the vicar had recently been put to death for poisoning three of his parishioners with cyanide in the communion wine. Of course Flavia, an expert chemist with a passion for poison, is excited about this. Then, while punting near the church, dabbling her fingers in the water, Flavia hooks something. it is not the Hemingway-sized fish she first imagined, but a body. AH! The perfect remedy for sorrow, in Flavia's book, is solving a murder. Though it could bring about her own.

This may just be my favorite of the delightful Flavia de Luce series. And it leaves plenty of room for more books to come. The children and I pass these books around as we get them; they are adult fiction, but no cursing, sex, or gratuitous gore. Flavia is a worthy young heroine, especially for unschooled kids, as most of her learning (and that of her sisters) was achieved on her own. I'm hooked!