Book Review: The Golden Tresses of the Dead

I love Allan Bradley's allusive titles for his Flavia DeLuce detective series. Moreover, nothing can beat listening to a Flavia story narrated with a British accent. What a fun audio experience! In this tenth installment, The Golden Tresses of the Dead, twelve-year-old super-sleuth Flavia investigates the appearance of a severed finger in her sister Ophelia's wedding cake. Together with her partner, Dogger, Flavia cracks her first detective case in an official capacity. They are hired by a Mrs. Prill to uncover the whereabouts of some missing letters. Sadly, Mrs. Prill turns up dead, and the plot thickens. Although it was a rather roundabout journey to connect the letters and the digit, I enjoyed the tale. I might even suggest the series to my own twelve-year-old (who aspires to become a chemical engineer like his older brother), now that he must read 5 books for every nine-week term of middle school. He's not doing too badly (read four of the Percy Jackson books before the end of August).