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From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Flavia de Luce knows, rationally, that she's being sent away to her mother's old school, Miss Bodycote's Female Academy, in Canada. To a 12-year-old, leaving her beloved English home of Buckshaw feels like banishment. She's heartened when a corpse crashes down from the chimney in her room on her first night at Miss Bodycote's Flavia has a remarkable affinity for the dead and by private tutoring in the gentle arts of mayhem from headmistress Miss Fawlthorne and middle-of-the-night chemistry training from acquitted murderer Mrs. Bannerman. But as Flavia puzzles over the identity of the body, not to mention the fate of the three girls gone missing from the academy, she is warned repeatedly to trust no one, not knowing who belongs to the ultrasecret society that uses the code words pheasant sandwiches. This seventh Flavia de Luce outing of the 10 the author has promised maintains the high standards Bradley set from the start, when he found himself hijacked by his precocious and fearless young protagonist with her limitless enthusiasm and staggering intellect. Another treat for readers of all ages.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2015 Booklist

Library Journal
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This latest adventure in Bradley's entertaining detective fiction series (after The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches) finds Flavia banished to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy, the Canadian boarding school her mother, Harriet, once attended. Before the first day is out, a body comes crashing down her chimney, and 12-year-old Flavia sets herself to the task of discovering the identity of both the decapitated victim and the murderer. This time Flavia appears out of her element but perseveres. Homesick and without her Bishop's Lacey friends and family, she uses her finely honed detection skills and chemistry expertise to solve the mystery and bring the criminal to justice. This series entry may be read as a stand-alone, but new listeners may wish to go back to the beginning and listen to them all; Bradley continues to develop Flavia's character as he delivers fascinating and, at times, very unusual, supporting characters. Written with great wit and wisdom, Bradley's works are superbly narrated by Jayne Entwistle. VERDICT Fans of Alexander McCall Smith and M.C. Beaton will enjoy this audiobook and the entire series. ["Flavia's resourcefulness away from her English village with a whole new set of well-drawn characters is reason to rejoice": LJ Xpress Reviews 12/5/14 starred review of the Delacorte hc.]-Sandra C. Clariday, -Tennessee Wesleyan Coll. Lib., Athens © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Set in 1951, Bradley's exceptional seventh series whodunit (after 2014's The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches) takes Flavia de Luce, a preteen with an interest in poisons, from her family home in Bishop's Lacey, England, to Canada, where she is to attend her late mother's alma mater, Miss Bodycote's Female Academy. On Flavia's very first night there, a fellow student, P.A. Collingwood, bursts into her room and reveals that three other girls have disappeared. When the head of school, Miss Fawlthorne (aka the Hangman's Mistress), knocks at Flavia's door, Collingwood flees up the chimney, dislodging a mummified corpse and detaching its skull. This intriguing setup only gets better, and Bradley makes Miss Bodycote's a suitably Gothic setting for Flavia's sleuthing. Through it all, her morbid narrative voice continues to charm (e.g., "If you're anything like me, you adore rot. It is pleasant to reflect on the fact that decay and decomposition are what make the world go round"). Agent: Denise Bukowski, Bukowski Agency. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fans of Flavia DeLuce, part precocious child, part world-weary detective, will celebrate the newest entry in Bradley's award-winning series (The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches). Flavia is sent to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy in Canada to train for a hereditary role in a secret organization that she is expected to figure out for herself. The rough crossing and unexplained strange surroundings do nothing to dampen her sparkling wit, persistent curiosity, and imaginative investigation of poisons. But then a dead body popping out the chimney in Flavia's room the first night would arouse anyone's curiosity! Readers who enjoy character-driven, "country house" mysteries will appreciate Flavia's keen mind, droll wit, and comic preteen rush into a new situation in which everyone warns her to beware, many seem to have known her mother, and someone is undoubtedly a killer. Verdict Flavia's resourcefulness away from her English village with a whole new set of well-drawn characters is reason to rejoice. Fans of Dorothy Sayers, Gladys Mitchell, and Agatha Christie will delight in this engaging series. [See Prepub Alert, 9/8/14.]-Cheryl Bryan, Orleans, MA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.