Genre: Mystery/Historical Fiction
# of Pages: 384
RAC Book: Yes
Flavia de Luce lives in England in the 1950s. Her mother died when she was a baby and her father is a recluse in their country manor. She has two older sisters, Daphne and Ophelia, who enjoy tormenting her. Flavia loves to work in her own chemistry lab and is always asking questions, to the annoyance of her sisters.
One evening she is awakened when she hears someone arguing with her father in his study, but the gardener catches her listening at the door and sends her to bed. In the morning, Flavia finds a dying man in their garden and calls the police. Unfortunately, they arrest her father for the murder and Flavia is not completely sure of his innocence since this is the man who was arguing with her father the night before. Nevertheless, Flavia decides to go after the truth and begins investigating herself. Can she piece together the facts to find out what happened to the mysterious stranger from the garden? Can she clear her father’s name?
This story is a fun mystery story with very colorful and interesting characters. The tone of the book and style of the mystery is reminiscent of Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer. There are many details of the story that the reader needs to remember in order to crack the case, which is reminiscent of The Westing Game. Finally, the main character is captivating, clever, and a strong female character, reminiscent of Down the Rabbit Hole. The story has all of the ingredients to be a lasting mystery for this age level for many years to come.
Young Adult Book Reviews 
I didn’t think of The Westing Game when I read this, but now that you mention it this book is similar to it!