Hot summer, still waters – and the charming amateur detective Flavia de Luce has already hooked a corpse. What does the typical investigator look like to you? Male, middle-aged, a bit grumpy, with a bright young colleague by his side? Think again! Because hardly anyone has as high a success rate in solving criminal cases as Flavia de Luce: twelve years old, adorably a bit cheeky, a gifted chemist, accompanied only by her loyal bicycle Gladys. Even in this unusually hot summer in England, a corpse crosses Flavia's path during a boating trip with her family. The dead man is wrapped in blue silk and wears a single red ballet shoe. When three gossiping ladies in the local church also meet their end, Flavia's magical detective instincts kick into high gear once again.

The "Flavia de Luce" series:
Book 1: Murder in the Cucumber Patch
Book 2: Murder is No Child's Play
Book 3: Rascals, Death, and the Devil
Book 4: Curtain Up for a Corpse
Book 5: Final Chord for a Murder
Book 6: Dead Birds Don't Sing
Book 7: A Corpse Kicks Up Dust
Book 8: Murder is Not the Last Word
Book 9: Death Sits in the Boat
Book 10: Death Kiss with Icing

Also available as an e-book: The Secret of the Copper-Red Corpse ("Flavia de Luce" short story). All volumes can also be read individually.