The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley

Flavia and her sisters have gone on a trip to try to recover from their father's death.  As they float down a river with their chaperone, Flavia puts her hand in the water.  She feels something touch it and thinks she has a fish.  What she's fished out of the river was a body...

Delacorte Press and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published January 30th.

I like Flavia.  She's not like all the other girls (I can relate) and she uses her head.  She's very good at science, so she learned a lot from checking out the dead body.  She smelled chemicals on him and she's correct in her identifications.  She steals a piece of paper out of his pocket and she takes a sample of what she pushes out of his lungs.  That's the start of this adventure!

She finds out that the place he died was where his father had thrown the church chalice out.  Three women died from drinking wine from that chalice.  The reverend was hung.  But she begins to think there might have been more to it.  She's right.

Flavia is very unconventional, says what she thinks, and asks questions that most people wouldn't.  You never know what she's going to do next and you never know just how much she knows.  Each book in this series shows you more of what she's made of.  One thing she is not short of is courage.  That's what sustains her in dangerous moments.  She has more than one of those in this story.

This was a very good read and I'll be watching for future books about Flavia.