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I almost wept when I thought that [[The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley|The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches]] was to be the last Flavia de Luce novel. Over the last few years it's become one of my favourite crime series, so I was relieved when I heard that there were to be more books and not even too worried by the knowledge that we'd be missing much of the usual supporting cast. Sisters Daffy and Feely I could take or leave, but Dogger, the faithful retainer and Mrs Mullet, the housekeeper always added a lot to the stories. This time Flavia would be on her own, but she's nothing if not resourceful. None of her skills of deduction have left her, she's still an accomplished chemist and as impish as ever.
The stories are always great. This one is perhaps not as complex as the [[The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley|last book]] in the series, but it's none the worse for that and to some extent I found it an easier read. Alan Bradley has a real talent for creating compelling characters too and this really comes into its own in ''As Chimney Sweepers Come To Dust'',when Flavia is in the position of not having ''anyone'' whom she's sure she can trust. I must have had just about everyone ''but'' Flavia chalked in as the murderer at one point or another - and I still managed to get it wrong.
So, a great story and brilliant characters. What more can you ask for? Well, as with every book in this series, it's the sheer quality of the writing which lifts the book above the common herd. The use of language is superb. On the train journey across Canada the ''hours trudged by with chains on their ankles''. At the school the steam radiators sounded ''for all the world like armored knights having a practice joust with playful young dragons, who burgled and hissed more to show off than anything else.'' You can hear it, can't you?
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