"The Golden Tresses of the Dead" by Alan Bradley

Like clockwork over most of the past several years, a new Flavia de Luce mystery by Alan Bradley has arrived in January or February to brighten up the dreariness of a cold, grey southern Ontario winter. :)

"The Golden Tresses of the Dead" is the 10th Flavia novel. Twelve-year-old Flavia is a precocious young chemist/detective in early 1950s Britain. The story opens with the long-awaited wedding of Flavia's beautiful oldest sister, Ophelia/Feely... but the festivities are marred when the happy couple slice into their wedding cake, only to discover a severed human finger inside (!).  Whose finger is it, and how did it get there? Flavia is on the case!

I rated this 5 stars on Goodreads.

There have been hints/speculation that this would be the final Flavia book (sob!!). (And, if it is, the wonderful closing paragraphs would be a fitting epitaph.)  Thankfully, though, Bradley hinted in a recent interview with the Toronto Star that, while this IS the final book he was contracted to do, there may be more to come. Good news for all of us who love Flavia! :)  

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If you haven't read any of the previous Flavia novels, I recommend you start with the first book in the series, "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie," and continue from there in order. The mystery in each novel is self-contained -- but the plot itself always plays a distant second fiddle to the characters & the wonderful writing.  You will learn more about Flavia, her family and friends, and appreciate them and the stories more, if you start at the beginning and follow her adventures in order. 

I don't seem to have reviewed "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" on my blog, but here's where I've written about the others:

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (#2)
A Red Herring Without Mustard (#3)
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (#4)
Speaking From Among the Bones (#5) 
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (#6)
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (#7)
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd  (#8)
The Grave's a Fine and Private Place (#9) 

This was book #5 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 21% of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 3 books ahead of schedule to meet my goal. :)