The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

I didn't realize that The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was part of a series so it's been a few years since I have read a Flavia de Luce mystery. Alan Bradley does a wonderful job at setting the reader down in a 1950s English country village with Flavia de Luce (the chemistry wiz) flying pell mell over the hills and dales on her trusty bike she has named Gladys. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag involves a puppeteer, his assistant, a young boy who was found hanged and a wild woman living in the woods. As if that isn't enough to keep the reader intrigued, Flavia's two sisters constantly tease and bait her which results in a few chemistry experiments as acts of revenge.

This is a book that I found magnetic from beginning to end and will be added to my list of favorites for 2015.