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Monday, March 30, 2015

39) The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse by Alan Bradley

The Blurb :

Murder! the letter says, Come at once. Anson House, Greyminster, Staircase No. 3. How can Flavia de Luce resist such an urgent plea? After all, examining a dead body sounds like a perfectly splendid way to spend a Sunday. So Flavia hops upon her trusted bicycle, Gladys, whose rubber tires hiss happily along the rainy road, and arrives at her father’s mist-shrouded old school.

There, a terrified boy leads her to the loo where, sitting in a bathtub, is what appears to be a statue. But, no: To Flavia’s surprise, the thing is in fact a naked dead man. Save his face, he seems to have been carved out of copper. Never one to shy away from the macabre, Flavia gets to work—only to find that when an investigation begins with a metallic cadaver, ever more curious twists are to be expected.

My Thoughts :

I have been throughly enjoying the Flavia de Luce series and this short story was next up.  To make sure I didn't miss anything important I made sure that I read this one in the order it is placed but have to admit I am now slightly disappointed because this short story could be read at any time in the series.  It doesn't mention anything that would spoil the series as a whole and is actually quite dull.

The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse only shows that Flavia de Luce's amazing talents and unusual ways, can not be confined to a novella.  There was no room in this story to show how great this young lady is at what she does and she has no chance to shine.  There is hardly a story to read in this short offering and if you have read the blurb then you can skip the first half of the book.

This is not a good novella to try the series before heading to the full length versions.  This short installment offers no good impression of the special characters the author has been working on for years.  The plot is nothing compared to the stories already told and there is no Bishop's Lacey or Buckshaw delights.

Also this was my first time reading anything from the series on another format other than Audio book.  I have to say I doubt I would be enjoying the series half as much if I was reading it on Kindle.  The audio version really brings things to life and this story may have been better in an audio format but I highly doubt it.  Quite disappointing but it won't be putting me off the series!



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