Much of this book troubled me. It seemed bloated with irrelevant details, and half of it could have easily been done away with, what with the endless inner ramblings and imaginative monologues of Flavia de Luce about the have beens and what could have been. Amusing, also, that a story taking place in the 1950s could be so bogged down by historical dead ends.

The characters, however, offered a temporary relief from the rambling plot line. Flavia herself, with her unstoppable intellect and curiosity, I highly cherished. Aside from a few quirky, if not awkwardly portrayed interactions with the other characters of the novel, most of the characters passed as placidly delightful.

I did also very much enjoy the use of chemistry, even though it seemed to sit atop the plot and other occurrences as stand-alone instructions. At least I now know how to kill someone with carbon tetrachloride.

The style of this novel is supposedly reminiscent of the Golden Age of crime writing, which only leaves me to turn elsewhere. If old-fashioned mysteries are what you enjoy, paired with an idealistic young protagonist, I can only assume you'll find some pleasure in this series. This book has reminded that I do not like novels for younger audiences, nor mystery/crime novels. So, in some regard, I guess this novel succeeded at being just like any other book similar to it.