Flavia de Luce rides again! Her banishment from Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy, a Canadian finishing school for young ladies, ended almost as abruptly as it began. Flavia is far beyond the need of the sort of finishing meant for the average 12-year-old girl, so after polishing off yet another scandalous murder, she has been expelled to return to Buckshaw Manor after a brief but adventurous three months.

Arriving at Southampton Seaport at Christmas time, Flavia looks forward to a warm welcome from her sisters and household, banners and balloons waving. Instead she finds her father’s man of all arts, the faithful Dogger. His sad face reflects only mournful news: her father, Colonel de Luce, lies gravely ill in the hospital with pneumonia, and no visitors are allowed. Flavia seeks the solace of her beloved Buff-Orpington hen, Esmeralda, only to find her cage empty. It is more than she can bear. “You’ve eaten her!” she exclaimed. “Cannibals! Cannibals!”

"THRICE THE BRINDED CAT HATH MEW’D delivers everything that the Bard portended: a brindle cat, witches, toil and a delightful bit of trouble in this eighth installment of one of the most ingenious and genuinely original mystery series of recent years."

Such is Flavia’s life. Her only friends are (or were) a chicken; her beloved bicycle, Gladys; Dogger; and the vicar’s wife, Cynthia. She’s relieved to find that Gladys is faithfully standing just where she left her, tires inflated and ready to ride, so the next morning she pedals off through a drenching rain to visit the vicarage. Cynthia offers her condolences about her father’s health and asks her to perform a simple task: deliver an envelope to a Mr. Sambridge in a nearby village. If there is anything predictable in a Flavia de Luce mystery, it is that Flavia will discover a body. Alas, she finds poor Mr. Sambridge, his body hanging upside down on the back of his bedroom door. This cheers her up immensely --- a challenge to be conquered!

And so begins another adventure in the life of this ingenious young detective, who is wiser than any grownup could hope to be. I shamefully admit that I more or less recognized the line from the book’s title, but was grateful to author Alan Bradley that he kindly quoted it in the front of the book to relieve me of the embarrassment of resorting to Google. 

THRICE THE BRINDED CAT HATH MEW’D delivers everything that the Bard portended: a brindle cat, witches, toil and a delightful bit of trouble in this eighth installment of one of the most ingenious and genuinely original mystery series of recent years. Newcomers --- and I suggest that if you haven’t yet dipped into these adventures, you start at the beginning with THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE --- will no doubt enjoy this latest venture. Do not be fooled by our heroine’s young age. Flavia is a grownup in a child’s body and knows more about chemistry, crime deduction and Shakespeare than the average adult.