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Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd (Flavia de Luce, #8)

Alan Bradley

Start date: November 15, 2022

Finish date: December 6, 2022

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: Next in this popular series
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What Members Thought

Oct 11, 2016 Julie Durnell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, england-uk

Reading a new Flavia story is always a treat! The incorrigible chemistry lab ace- girl sleuth has returned to Buckshaw and her unfeeling family, gamboling about Bishop's Lacey on her trusty bicycle Gladys, only to stumble upon a dead man. Nothing uplifts her spirits more than a corpse and to match wits with Inspector Hewitt! ...more

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Sep 05, 2016 Becky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewcopy, 2016reviews

First sentence: The winter rain slashes at my face like icy razor blades, but I don't care. I dig my chin deep into the collar of my mackintosh, put my head down, and push on against the buffeting of the furious wind.

Premise/plot: Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd is the EIGHTH novel in the Flavia de Luce mystery series by Alan Bradley. If you're not hooked to the series by now, chances are my review won't persuade you to pick this one up. Do you have to read the books in order? Yes and no. I'd First sentence: The winter rain slashes at my face like icy razor blades, but I don't care. I dig my chin deep into the collar of my mackintosh, put my head down, and push on against the buffeting of the furious wind.

Premise/plot: Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd is the EIGHTH novel in the Flavia de Luce mystery series by Alan Bradley. If you're not hooked to the series by now, chances are my review won't persuade you to pick this one up. Do you have to read the books in order? Yes and no. I'd say that it's always best to read the first book first. But perhaps after that if you've missed one or two then it would still be okay to pick up this newest one and treat yourself.

So, what is it about? Flavia de Luce is home from Canada--it's almost Christmas--and things are not the same at home. Her father is sick and in the hospital. Which means almost everyone is acting differently. And every day there is the question: will the hospital allow visitors today?!?! For too many days in a row the answer has been NO. One thing that is the same? There is a mystery to be solved. While doing an errand for Cynthia, I believe, she comes across a dead body--Mr. Sambridge, a local woodcarver.

My thoughts: The mystery in this one is very interesting in my opinion. While I've enjoyed the past few books in the series okay, I think this one is my favorite by far. It is COMPELLING and EMOTIONAL. And oh the ending....it revealed how much I do CARE about the characters and it made me want to yell at the author.

There are times when even family can be of no use: when talking to your own blood fails to have meaning.

As anybody with two older sisters can tell you, a closed door is like a red rag to a bull. It cannot go unchallenged.

Playing the clown is not an easy task. Clowns, I have come to believe, are placed upon the earth solely to fill the needs of others, while running perilously close to "Empty" themselves.

You can learn from a glance at anyone's library, not what they are, but what they wish to be.

Giving someone the benefit of the doubt is not so simple as it sounds. What it means, in fact, is being charitable--which, as the vicar is fond of pointing out, is the most difficult of the graces to master. Faith and hope are a piece of cake but charity is a Pandora's box: the monster in the cistern which, when the lid is opened, comes swarming out to seize you by the throat.

The world can be an interesting place to a girl who keeps her ears open.

Authors are known to have fiendishly clever minds, and the authors of children's books are more fiendishly clever than most.

Some sleeps are washed with gold, and some with silver. Mine was molten lead.

...more

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Feb 28, 2017 Susan in NC rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm really torn on how to rate and review this latest book in one of my favorite series; the writing, as always, is charming and witty and sharp. Flavia, as ever, is a whirlwind of precocious brilliance, gallows humor, and a sad, lonely little girl left too long to her own devices. I've read the entire series and find her sisters are as nasty as ever, which I am really tired of; Dogger and Mrs. Mullet, the only members of the Buckshaw household that seem to care about or pay attention in anyway ...more

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Nov 26, 2016 Wendy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-reads

Review to come....

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Mar 14, 2016 Andrea LoFiego rated it really liked it

4.5 Stars

I was thrilled to receive an e-ARC from NetGalley of the eighth Flavia de Luce mystery, Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d by Alan Bradley. The book comes out officially in September. The Flavia de Luce series has been one of my favorite series of all time, and I absolutely love her. The Boston Globe calls her a combination of Eloise and Sherlock Holmes and this is accurate, though they are leaving out her remarkable chemistry skills so maybe some Marie Curie in there would help.

In the l ...more

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Feb 15, 2018 Katie rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, mystery

Enjoyable, but not as good as the others in the series. A little more disjointed, and I missed the interaction between Flavia and her sisters. Also, I loved the previous one, so it was kind of a come-down. I'm looking forward to reading the next installment, however! ...more

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