Flavia de Luce didn't intend to investigate another murder — but, then again, Rupert Porson didn't intend to die. When the master puppeteer's van breaks down in Bishop's Lacey, he puts on a show with his loyal assistant, the disarmingly charming Nialla, prone (by Flavia's estimation) to strange bruises and long, solitary cries in graveyards. While Nialla plays Mother Goose, Rupert's goose gets cooked, the victim of an electrocution that is too perfectly planned to be an accident.

Putting down her sister-punishing chemistry experiments and picking up her bicycle, Gladys, Flavia uncovers long buried secrets of Bishop's Lacey, a seemingly idyllic town that nevertheless has a mad woman living in its woods, a prisoner-of-war with a soft spot for the English countryside, and two childless parents with a devastating secret. It's possible Rupert Porson's van didn't break down so accidentally in this charming hamlet. It's possible the police won't be able to solve his murder most ingenious. It's possible that his killer may help guide Flavia in way over her eleven-year-old head, and to a startling discovery that reveals the chemical composition of vengeance.

• Crime Reads does a deep dive into Bradley's Flavia de Luce mystery series

• Oprah picks Flavia!

• A 2010 Globe 100 selection: the 100 top-reviewed books of the year

• Watch an interview with Alan Bradley

• Alan Bradley on The Afterword literary blog at the National Post

• Beautiful pieces on YouTube - German - Italian

PRAISE FOR THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN’S BAG

“Bradley is a writer of great charm and insight, and he infuses even minor characters with indelible personality. … Flavia de Luce is a marvel and a delight.”  — ALFRED HITCHCOCK MAGAZINE

“There’s not a reader alive who wouldn’t want to watch Flavia in her lab concocting some nefarious brew.”  — KIRKUS REVIEWS

“[A] delight from the inimitable Alan Bradley.”  — BOOKPAGE

“Bradley’s endlessly entertaining follow-up to 2009’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie … deftly evokes the period, but Flavia’s sparkling narration is the mystery’s chief delight. Comic and irreverent, this entry is sure to build further momentum for the series.”  — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“It is impossible not to be utterly charmed by Flavia.”  — USA TODAY

“One of the most remarkable creations in recent literature.”  — BOOKGEEKS, UK

“… the real delight here is [Flavia’s] droll voice and the eccentric cast … utterly beguiling.”  — PEOPLE

“Bradley takes everything you expect and subverts it, delivering a smart, irreverent, unsappy mystery.”  — ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“A pitch-perfect performance that surpasses an already worthy debut.”  — THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

“Discovering Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce books is several steps beyond pleasure—it’s a sheer delight.”  — WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL

“Wickedly funny.”  — TIMES-PICAYUNE

“Flavia is the heart and soul of these novels, the sort of heroine that is too rare in fiction today: utterly realistic, yet compellingly larger than life.”  — THE EDMONTON JOURNAL

“Flavia remains one of the most original and endearing characters around.”  — CALGARY HERALD

“Flavia is a precocious delight.”  — NATIONAL POST

“…it's the evocation of [Flavia’s] world that provides these books with such solid underpinnings.”  — THE STAR PHOENIX

“ All in all, it’s a perfectly detailed and credible English village in the Agatha Christie manner [and] determined sleuth Flavia de Luce is the bright centre…”  — THE GLOBE AND MAIL

“It's the complex, sprightly, yearning voice of Flavia that makes the book fly.”  — LONDON (ONTARIO) FREE PRESS

“It's the evocation of her world that provides these books with such solid underpinnings. There are some memorable narrative setpieces … but at times, the crimes seem a mere makeweight: the characters and sense of place are what count.”  — THE DAILY NEWS (NANAIMO)