I will admit to my ignorance of the source of the title of Alan Bradley's latest Flavia de Luce mystery: Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd (#604). It comes, of course, from Shakespeare's Macbeth - the opening lines of the witches' incantation.
Flavia has come home in disgrace from Miss Bodycote's Female Academy in Canada. Her stay at her mother's former boarding school proved to be a sobering experience for her. Things are no better when she arrives home to be greeted at the pier by Dogger, the family's rather mysterious factotum. Flavia's father is desperately ill from pneumonia.
Visitors are forbidden at the hospital, although Flavia's sisters and even her repulsive young cousin Undine have seen him. While Flavia awaits permission to visit him, she must do something to occupy herself, and for the moment she cannot stand to be within the walls of Buckshaw. She takes her faithful bicycle Gladys out in the frosty December taking comfort where she may. Her friend Cynthia, the vicar's wife, sends her on an errand to deliver an envelope to the woodcarver engaged in making repairs to the carvings in the church. Flavia, being Flavia, cannot simply leave it on the doorstep when there is no response to her knock. What she discovers inside is the woodcarver dead in a most bizarre manner. Figuring out the means and motives for his death is the perfect solution to keep Flavia's mind occupied!
Flavia grows up quite a bit in this novel. She sees and cannot quite believe some of the changes in herself when she begins to pay more attention to others' feelings and learns the value of discretion. Not that the old Flavia is gone! Far from it. This was one of the most thoroughly entertaining books I've read in this series. It seems Flavia's new-found maturity will be needed in the future, as the book ends in heartbreak for the residents of Buckshaw. Poor Flavia! I can't wait to find out what happens next!
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