Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our June/July 2021 buddy read of I Am Half-Sick of Shadows the fourth book in the Flavia de Luce Mystery series, published in 2011.

Ignore the sunshine outside. It is Christmastime and the precocious Flavia de Luce - an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving - is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces' decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern. Amid a raging blizzard, the entire village of Bishop's Lacey gathers at Buckshaw to watch Wyvern perform, yet nobody is prepared for the evening's shocking conclusion: a body found, past midnight, strangled to death with a length of film. But who among the assembled guests would stage such a chilling scene? As the storm worsens and the list of suspects grows, Flavia must use every ounce of sly wit at her disposal to ferret out a killer hidden in plain sight.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

Why is it older siblings always tell the younger ones there is no Father Christmas, when we all know there is? Actually I was pleased to see in this book that Flavia's sisters were not as hard-hearted as we have been lead to believe.

Yes, that was refreshing- the sisters often seem to go beyond older sister teasing, and get into vicious territory.

I loved Flavia’s plot to capture St. Nick - sums up both her brilliant scientific mind, and her still-a-child chronological age! Also handy in unmasking the bad guy…

I got a kick out of the two times the older sister tried to verbally attack Flavia, only to have the renowned actress, Phyllis Wyvern, come to her rescue and leave the sister (I forget which sister, Dafy or Feeley), red-faced and tongue-tied! I think it gave Flavia a much-needed morale boost, and the sister a much-needed lesson on picking on someone your own size!

Phyllis Wyvern was a complicated character, wasn't she? Kind to Flavia, but horrible to her dresser and others in the cast and crew. I think this series often has characters that are not necessarily black or white in terms of character, but shades of grey, which makes them more interesting.

I've been up and down with this series but really enjoyed this one - though yes, a bit weird reading it in summer!

I thought Bradley worked the whole 'gathering at Christmas in a big house' trope really well with both the film crew and the villagers stuck there overnight. I also enjoyed the static location and that Flavia isn't rushing around on Gladys.

What made the book for me, though, is the development in the characters and their relationships. The deepening of our understanding of how the sisters work was especially well done, I thought.

Personally, I could have done with a bit less faffing around amongst the chimney pots and didn't really believe that our Flavia would ever be that naive about Santa - but I can see why other readers might find all that charming ;)

I thought she was a bit old for Santa, but I was pleased she got her beakers after all that!

Yes, I was surprised about the Santa angle as well - my son was an only child and believed in Santa until around 10, but was getting suspicious, asking a lot of questions. I saw Flavia’s still believing as more of a vague yearning for childhood happy, normal things that were largely lost to her - no memories of a mother, remote father, teasing older sisters, not a lot of simple, positive things to cling to! And the fact that she wanted to capture and expose the jolly old elf…

Susan wrote: "Phyllis Wyvern was a complicated character, wasn't she? Kind to Flavia, but horrible to her dresser and others in the cast and crew. I think this series often has characters that are not necessaril..."

Yes, I found her very interesting- I was thrilled she helped Flavia stand up to her sister, but she was a witch to others! Reminds me of those exposes, videos or audios that have leaked out of celebrity bubbles since time immemorial, exposing this dewy-eyed ingenue as a drug-addled sex fiend, or that manly leading man had a homosexual fling, or a secret child, or went on drunken tirades, screaming at the crew, etc.

I always feel sorry for the person exposed, having little privacy or people they can trust, and figure there’s probably more to the story, just like nowadays when average people flip out over mask regulations or vaccines, and end up exposed on social media, freaking out in a store or on an airplane. Then again, the person might really be a miserable SOB, and it’s just coming to light - still sad, though. I mean, if they’re mentally ill and just can’t help being that way - what made them that way, how horrible it must feel. Like Phyllis, swanning around, cooing like a beloved star at the little people, being gracious one minute, humiliating a crew member the next, using Harriet’s off-limits bath (anyone else hold their breath, expecting Colonel de Luce to walk in, quivering with inexpressible rage?) Fascinating character, definitely not black and white! And interesting to see how confusing she is to Flavia, still in many ways a little girl.

My eldest son's teacher made him very upset when he was 7. She got each child to stand up and say what they had got for Christmas, when he got up and said Father Christmas had brought him whatever it was, she laughed and lots of the other children did and she then told him there was no such thing and she was surprised he still thought there was. Obviously he was very upset, not so much that there was no Father Christmas, but that we had lied to him and made him look silly. We were not pleased with her needless to say.

Jill wrote: "My eldest son's teacher made him very upset when he was 7. She got each child to stand up and say what they had got for Christmas, when he got up and said Father Christmas had brought him whatever ..."

What a cruel thing to do!

Not very nice, Jill! Seven is not that old, either. At my kids school everyone gleefully told them there was no Santa from about four on, so I couldn't really keep it going anyway, although there was a kind of nod towards Santa, just in case, on my younger two's part for a while; probably more because he was in picture books and Christmas cartoons than anything else.

Phyllis was something of a sad character, sitting watching her own movies each night. I think Flavia honed in on her sadness.

These are the forthcoming buddy reads:

Jul/Aug
The Sanctuary Sparrow - Ellis Peters
The Unfinished Clue - Georgette Heyer
The Scandal at 23 Mount Street - Clara Benson

Aug/Sep
A Penknife in my Heart - Nicholas Blake
Mystery of Mr. Jessop - E.R. Punshon

Sep/Oct
The Three Cornered Halo - Christianna Brand
An Instance of the Fingerpost - Iain Pears

Oct/Nov
The Case of the Gilded Fly - Edmund Crispin
The Dusky Hour - E.R. Punshon
The Shadow at Greystone Chase - Clara Benson

Nov/Dec
Thus was Adonis Murdered - Sarah Caudwell

Dec/Jan
Angela's Christmas Adventure (short story) - Clara Benson


The next Flavia novel is Speaking from Among the Bones
Aug/Sep or Nov/Dec?

Jill wrote: "My eldest son's teacher made him very upset when he was 7. She got each child to stand up and say what they had got for Christmas, when he got up and said Father Christmas had brought him whatever ..."

That’s awful! Clearly she missed class the day they explained in her Education curriculum that children mature at different rates, and an eldest or only child without more worldly siblings might believe in Father Christmas for a longer time…

Susan wrote: "Not very nice, Jill! Seven is not that old, either. At my kids school everyone gleefully told them there was no Santa from about four on, so I couldn't really keep it going anyway, although there w..."

Good call, I agree, Phyllis’ loneliness, isolation seemed to call to Flavia’s- and it was rather pathetic that she sat alone and watched her younger self - definitely a Nora Desmond vibe there…

As August seems quite close, shall I go for November for the next book? If there are no comments, I will list it then, because it can be moved anyway.

That sounds good - summer seems to fly by!

It certainly does. OK, November it is.