Flavia De Luce Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Flavia de Luce Books
| The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| A Red Herring Without Mustard | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| I Am Half-Sick of Shadows | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Speaking from Among the Bones | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd | (2016) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Grave's a Fine and Private Place | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Golden Tresses of the Dead | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Flavia De Luce is a character written by Alan Bradley. She’s a character in his mystery series collection. She is the narrator of Bradley’s books. She is an 11-year-old sleuth. It’s unusual that a preteen would narrate books that feature adult characters. The books that Alan Bradley wrote about Flavia De Luce take place in England. The books take place in the 1950s.
Flavia De Luce’s background is similar to Bradley’s. De Luce lost her mother in a horrible and tragic accident. She didn’t get a chance to know her before she died. Her father didn’t pay attention to her while she was growing up. He was more focused on his hobby than paying attention to his family. In addition to having a father who didn’t care about her, she had two sisters who couldn’t care less about her. Flavia’s escapism from her problems was to picture what it would be like to die. Bradley was able to relate to the story he created for the character.
De Luce is considered invisible and that’s what made her a good character for Bradley’s books. Flavia is someone that is fearless and smart for her age. She got these qualities from her mother. You can forget that she is a kid because she thinks like an adult. She knows about scientific things, but is unfamiliar with how to relate to her family. Her father was distant towards her and her sisters were cruel. They were more into literature and concerts. She was into science and anything educational and mysterious.
The author felt that she was the right age for the books. She’s a threat to people who cross her. She looks like a typical 11-year-old girl. She wears dresses and has pigtails in her hair.
Bradley wanted to create a character that he wasn’t at that age. He wasn’t smart like the character he created. He wasn’t able to figure things out the way the character could. He read a lot, but he didn’t have the personality of the character he created. Bradley is also aware that Flavia does things that he wouldn’t ever do.
The author was excited about creating Flavia because people don’t always pay attention to the things children say. Adults don’t always take kids seriously. Flavia is supposed to be different. She is unpredictable and hard to read. She is energetic and enthusiastic about her cases. She is curious to a fault. It’s her curiosity that gets her into different situations. It’s also helps her when she solves cases.
Alan Bradley isn’t ready to have Flavia grow up yet. As a preteen, she is able investigate other people’s business. She can get things out of people because adults don’t take her seriously. It’s easy for adults to overlook her skills at sleuthing because she is a kid.
Flavia solves different cases in the books. She takes her bike Gladys with her to investigate different cases. Her main goal is to figure out things about her mother. Since she never got a chance to know her mother, this brings her closer to her. Flavia isn’t just focused on crime solving. She wants to know about what happened to her mother.
De Luce is a popular character who has appeared in several of Bradley’s mysteries. Flavia made her debut in the book “The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie”. In this book, Flavia has to solve a case in which she watched a man die. This would frighten any other child, but Flavia was intrigued. She wanted to figure out what happened to the man she watched die.
“A Red Herring Without Mustard” features the precocious 11-year-old sleuth solving a murder. This time she stumbles on to a dead guy after she visited with a gypsy. She had to figure out if the death was an act of revenge. She could understand that because she had two evil sisters that she wanted to kill at times.
“I Am Half Sick Of Shadows” takes places during a blizzard in Buckshaw. The people in Buckshaw watched a woman perform. Flavia tries to figure who killed a person who was strangled. This is a bizarre case for the preteen.
In “The Curious Case Of The Copper Corpse”, Flavia investigates the death of a naked man. She doesn’t let the fact that the corpse is naked stop her from investigating the case. This book is a short story, but she manages to get the job done.
Flavia does some more investigating in the book “The Weed That Strings The Hangman’s Bag”. De Luce investigates the death of a puppeteer. She investigates several suspects to find out who killed the puppeteer. This book gives her a chance to use her love of poison to her advantage.
Flavia deals with a lot of death considering what happened to her mother. She also has the worst timing when it concerns death. People always seem to die around her. She always seems to find herself at the wrong place at the right time. It makes it easy for her to solve the cases she gets.
This character has become so popular that producers wanted to turn the books into a series. Director and producer Sam Mendes wanted to make a series of episodes based on the character. Alan Bradley wasn’t sure it would work without the right actress for the role of Flavia. She has to be the perfect fit for the part or it wouldn’t work. He has written her a certain way and he wants her to stay the way he envisioned. Bradley must have got his way because the series was created. There have been at least 10 episodes of the show. It airs on British TV.
Fans were scared that Bradley was going to end the Flavia De Luce series after his last novel. His fans can rest easy because he has to write at least four more books to complete the TV series. People were also curious as to whether or not Flavia will age. Flavia will only reach the age of 12. He wants her to remain a preteen. It would be hard for her to do the things she does if she were an older character.
Flavia De Luce is a character who is loved by people of all ages. She reminds you of a family member or a friend. Flavia connects with readers from all over the world.
Book Series In Order » Characters »
Any issues with the book list you are seeing? Or is there an author or series we don’t have? Let me know!
Afterthe first book, I thought that I would have liked to have Flavia as my friend when I was 11. But then I thought that I would not have been smart enough. Sigh.
The writing is spectacular, and the reading is beyond the pale! What an extremely talented, interpreter and talent Ms Entwistle is!
Jayne Entwistle is a phenomenal reader. Another not-to-be missed treat The War that Saved My Life and its sequel by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley.
Just love these books. Looking forward to Flavia’s higher education and how she will handle being away from home .
This is one book series that was not only a delight to read, but even more delightful to listen to in audiobook form. Jayne Entwistle does a spectacular job with doing all the voices and characters.
I couldn’t agree more! Jayne Entwistle makes these books come to life!