I am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

I wasn't expecting to get sidetracked from my epic fantasy yet again, but the interlibrary loans I had requested in February had finally made it through the snail mail. Flavia was calling me with her canny witticisms and sassy 11-year-old demeanor. Plus spring was starting to show signs of arriving and my mind had been turned to plants and gardening.

Coming back to back to Flavia after six months, this may not have been my favorite reentry. The state of Buckshaw has sunk even lower since the last time we heard from Flavia. Sunk so low, in fact, that they have had to rent the place out to a dreaded film crew at Christmas time. The manor is absolutely swarming with dramatic characters, and you can just tell this will lead to mayhem.

Having the lead actress, Phyllis Wyvern, murdered was just too on the nose for me this go around. To add drama to an already fabulous murder, Buckshaw is crammed to the brink with all the witnesses and suspects for the duration of the investigation. While Flavia is attempting to prove Saint Nicholas is real to her sisters and who murdered Phyllis Wyvern, she is also solving the mystery of who is Hannah. 

There was just too much. Not only was Buckshaw packed to the brim, but the plot was too. So much information treading over each other, it just seemed unrealistic how the whole investigation panned out. Something also seemed to fell flat with the characters, which doesn't make sense with how much was going on. 

The shining point for me was the pacing moved the story along quick enough, and I was ready to try number five in the series.