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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Flavia de Luce--"part Harriet the Spy, part Violet Baudelaire from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (The New York Times Book Review)--takes her remarkable sleuthing prowess to the unexpectedly unsavory world of Canadian boarding schools in this captivating mystery.

BONUS: This edition includes "The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse: A Flavia de Luce Story."

Banished is how twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce laments her predicament, when her father and Aunt Felicity ship her off to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy, the boarding school that her mother, Harriet, once attended across the sea in Canada. The sun has not yet risen on Flavia's first day in captivity when a gift lands at her feet. Flavia being Flavia, a budding chemist and sleuth, that gift is a charred and mummified body, which tumbles out of a bedroom chimney. Now, while attending classes, making friends (and enemies), and assessing the school's stern headmistress and faculty (one of whom is an acquitted murderess), Flavia is on the hunt for the victim's identity and time of death, as well as suspects, motives, and means. Rumors swirl that Miss Bodycote's is haunted, and that several girls have disappeared without a trace. When it comes to solving multiple mysteries, Flavia is up to the task--but her true destiny has yet to be revealed.

Praise for As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

"Flavia de Luce is] perhaps contemporary crime fiction's most original character--to say she is Pippi Longstocking with a Ph.D. in chemistry (speciality: poisons) barely begins to describe her."--Maclean's

"Another treat for readers of all ages . . . As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust] maintains the high standards Bradley set from the start."--Booklist

"Exceptional . . . The] 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."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Even after all these years, Flavia de Luce is still the world's greatest adolescent British chemist/busybody/sleuth."--The Seattle Times

"Plot twists come faster than Canadian snowfall. . . . Bradley's sense of observation is as keen as gung-ho scientist Flavia's. . . . The results so far are seven sparkling Flavia de Luce mysteries."--Library Journal

Item Information Item Information

Format: TradePaperback
Author: Bradley, Alan
ISBN: 9780345539946
Condition: Used
Dimensions: 7.90 x 1.10
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Year: 2016

Customer Reviews

Rating Snapshot

5 ★ 67%

4 ★ 33%

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4.7

3 Ratings

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Flavia Sweeps Us off our Feet

Ray A. - 10 months ago

Alan Bradley's As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust arrived on our shelves, and I found myself remembering how I fell in love with its protagonist, 11-year-old Flavia de Luce, in her introductory book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009). Between sisterly spats and general mischief, Flavia, a precocious chemistry prodigy, delights in unraveling murders even though she knows she should be repulsed by them, a mindset her readers can relate to. Like Flavia, we know crimes are wrong, yet we pick up mysteries because we yearn to go on an adventure solving them. In the first book, Flavia discovers a dead body at her family estate in England, and in the newest, she finds yet another corpse stuffed up her chimney in a boarding school in Canada. Along the way, she teaches us about chemistry, investigations, and family all while maintaining the navet of her age. Though adults are Bradley's primary audience, I also recommend this series for teen readers who could use a role model who remains so unapologetically herself throughout all seven books.
HPB Staff Review
Another great mystery with Flavia de Luce!

Kristen B. - 2 years 1 month ago

Everyone's favorite young sleuth, Flavia de Luce, is back. And this time she's crossing the pond from England to an all girls' school in Canada. Flavia has been a bit too much for her single father to handle lately, so he makes the difficult decision to send her to boarding school. There she discovers a body in the chimney in her room and begins to put together the mysterious disappearances of girls at the school, but she soon figures out that everything is not as it seems. Will she be able to handle the truth? Any time I get asked for suggestions of books to read, my first question is always "Do you know Flavia de Luce?" Flavia is one of my favorite characters of all time. She is smart, courageous, bold and even (sometimes) sensitive. She is exactly who the 11 year old me would want to be best friends with. At first I was a bit disappointed for Flavia to leave her home at Buckshaw, as it is a place I have grown to know and love. But the all girls' school brings a new depth and curiosity to Flavia as she is thrown out of her element and must learn how to survive in the midst of all these girls!
HPB Staff Review
A Flavia de Luce mystery

Kathleen B. - 6 years 6 months ago

This is the 7th book in Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series, and it is just as good as the first. Flavia (age 12) is a delightful mix of little girl and driven chemist; one who loves dead bodies. In this latest book in the series, Flavia is sent to boarding school in Canada, the same school her mother went to. On her first night, a dead body rolls out of the chimney, and the adventure begins.
HPB Staff Review

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Flavia Sweeps Us off our Feet

Another great mystery with Flavia de Luce!

A Flavia de Luce mystery