Tomorrow is the last day for the Fog Diver giveaway. Comment here or on the original post and your name goes in the Oracular Yogurt Cup from which a winner will emerge. It's a fun Sci-Fi novel for middle grades with a steampunk edge. I will announce the winner here by noon Eastern time tomorrow and it's up to you to email me at bookkm@gmail.com with your snail mail address.
And what have I been doing this past week? Visiting with relatives and reading the latest adventures of pre-teen sleuth and chemist, Flavia De Luce. When last seen, Flavia found out that she was to be sent off to boarding school in Toronto, CA of all places - far, far from the field of the ancestral De Luce home in merry old England. Since then, she has starred in a short story - The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse - in which Flavia is called to the local boarding school to figure out what happened to the teacher found dead in a dorm bathtub and plated with copper.
After that, she is banished to Toronto. The very first night there, she is assaulted by a classmate and a dessicated corpse rolls out of the dorm room chimney. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust is Flavia's most recent foray into detection. Far from home, dealing with unfamiliar routines and unwritten rules, given contradictory directions at every turn, it is no wonder that Flavia is often close to tears. WHAT!!!!??? Not redoubtable Flavia De Luce! Scourge of older sisters! Dissembler extraordinaire! Yes, Flavia ends up sobbing in this novel and, personally, I would have been wailing before the 3rd page, if I was she. (If there are tears can hormones be far behind? Perish the thought!)
Luckily, for readers everywhere, I am NOT Flavia. Flavia fans may have trouble following this book because no one is entirely trustworthy at Bodycote Academy - especially the staff. There is a lot of cloak and dagger-y spyish stuff. Flavia gets a little bit closer to what her mother might have been involved in before her disappearance and death. Don't expect anything but hints and rumors though.
The mystery at Bodycote involves disappearing students, suspicious Board members, a chemistry teacher suspected of murdering her husband - with poison to Flavia's delight. That Academy is a hot mess, all the way around.
The ending made me happy and that is all I will say here.
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