Book Reviews

As promised, some reviews . . .

"A Red Herring Without Mustard" is the 3rd in the Flavia de Luce mystery series. I am a huge mystery fan, and really enjoy these books. This latest installment is probably my favorite of the three. Flavia is a young girl living in an small, early 19th-century village in England. She, her 2 sisters, and her father are the remnants of a once-prosperous and influential family. Flavia is left much to her own devices as her father is occupied with their crumbling estate and finances and his ongoing grief over her mother's untimely death. Flavia is an amateur chemist and detective and roams the countryside on her mother's old bicycle, nicknamed Gladys. These mysteries are a little on the dark side, but I appreciate the humor, the intellect, and the great characters.
I picked up "The Time Traveler's Apprentice" because it was written by someone whose mother goes to our church. It was a fairly enjoyable book. Simon, a boy in his late teens (I don't know if his age is ever firmly established so that's a guess . . .), has made the startling discovery that the history professor/researcher he has been working with has special insight into the work she does because she has figured out how to time travel. She begins teaching Simon how, and he has very little experience with time-traveling when this book begins and he suddenly finds himself on an unplanned trip to medieval England. He meets a girl named Bryn and they both end up in the middle of the great mystery of whether King Henry II actually ordered the death of Thomas Becket and the resulting political fallout with the noble landowners under the King's jurisdiction. To my knowledge, the book is well-researched and historically accurate and it was interesting to read more about this period of history. I had read this partially with the intent to see if my kids would enjoy it, but I definitely felt like it was above their comprehension and more appropriate for young adults--older middle school and high school age. If the book has a weakness, I actually felt like it was trying to "stuff" too much information into it. Sometimes I felt it detracted somewhat from the story. But overall an interesting and enjoyable book.