The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches is the sixth book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series by Alan Bradley.

I am very fond of Flavia de Luce and look forward to each new adventure with her. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches was refreshing because it did not deal with Flavia finding a dead body – which, let’s face it, I’d be pretty suspicious if an 11-year-old kept ending up involved in solving a murder. Instead it deals with her mother’s return to Bishop’s Lacey. I enjoyed learning more about Flavia’s father and Dogger and seeing some growth in Flavia’s relationship with her sisters.

Bradley’s prose is a delight to read, even if some of the plot developments were a bit hard to swallow. There is a storyline involving Flavia’s intentions to raise the dead which is completely unbelievable. She is much too smart to believe that can be done, and if it’s her way of coping with loss, that’s not made apparent. There are some developments regarding Flavia’s role and importance in the world which are also pretty outlandish.

Still, it’s a fun read and my interest didn’t lag. The book ends with a development that will certainly bring a fresh spin to the next book in the series. Although I've enjoyed all the books, on the whole I think this one was more original than the last two.

I read an electronic galley of The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches from Netgalley. It is scheduled to be available in January 2014.