Amateur sleuth Flavia de Luce along with her pestilent younger cousin investigates the murder
of a former public hangman and uncovers a secret that brings the greatest shock of her life.
“I love the Flavia de Luce novels! Flavia is the best female detective I’ve ever read full of
realism self-confidence and emotion (in roughly equal parts) and her tales are hilarious
engaging and occasionally heartbreaking.”—Diana Gabaldon #1 New York Times bestselling author
of the Outlander series Flavia de Luce has taken on the mentorship of her odious moon-faced
cousin Undine who has come to live at Buckshaw following the death of her mother. Undine’s
main talent aside from cultivating disgusting habits seems to be raising Flavia’s hackles
although in her best moments she shows potential for trespassing trickery and other assorted
mayhem. When Major Greyleigh a local recluse and former hangman is found dead after a
breakfast of poisonous mushrooms suspicion falls on the de Luce family’s longtime cook Mrs.
Mullet. After all wasn’t it she who’d picked the mushrooms cooked the omelet and served it
to Greyleigh moments before his death? “I have to admit ” says Flavia an expert in the
chemical nature of poisons “that I’d been praying to God for a jolly good old-fashioned
mushroom poisoning. Not that I wanted anyone to die but why give a girl a gift such as mine
without giving her the opportunity to use it?” But Flavia knows the beloved Mrs. Mullet is
innocent. Together with Dogger estate gardener and partner-in-crime and the obnoxious Undine
Flavia sets out to find the real killer and clear Mrs. Mullet’s good name. Little does she know
that following the case’s twists and turns will lead her to a most surprising discovery—one
with the power to upend her entire life.
