The Golden Tresses of the Dead
The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Perhaps Alan Bradley has tired of his ingenue, Flavia. Those of us who fell in love with Flavia in the earlier books have come to expect her effervescent personality, her deep curiosity, and the childish awkwardness that comes from having a brain much more advanced than her social/emotional skills.
Flavia expressed her usual love of all things science, but missing was the precociousness that made her so endearing in earlier books Frankly, she’s mature compared to cousin Undine, who exhibits much of the vim and vigor Flavia is missing.
The mystery was underwhelming. Plot points barely make sense, and we get no real feel for any of the suspects or victims. The appearance of the finger in the wedding cake, the badly burned Reggie, the boys from the Vicar’s Vestry…all appearing for no real purpose, not red herrings, not furthering the plot in any way.
The newly formed investigative agency of Dogger and Associates (Flavia!) is an interesting way to continue a series now that Flavia is getting older. And I enjoyed getting to see more of Dogger. But at still just 12 years old, I would have expected more info about Flavia’s domestic life. She clearly shares a house (that she now owns) with her sister Daffy (who barely makes an appearance), cousin Undine and Dogger, but missing entirely is her Aunt. What is happening with all the secret spy work alluded to in earlier novels? Sister Feely is quickly married off and moved out of the story in the very beginning. Undine gets a few brief moments to display how annoying she is, but Flavia’s domestic and familial situation is barely given a glance. Even Gladys, Flavia’s beloved bike, barely gets a chance to fly!
Whereas Flavia’s ungainly charm may have carried previous entries in the series, this one has neither decent plotting or the unbridled joy that we’ve come to expect in Flavia story.