The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley

Mr. Bradley has made up for taking away my dreams of a boarding school Flavia. He has given us a detective agency Flavia. I am also happy to see the characters progressing through time instead of being frozen at a certain age. More change is striking the de Luces as Flavia is experiencing the pleasures of puberty and Feely will be leaving Buckshaw.

The wedding that seemed to never come to fruition is on now that tragedy has decided to call a truce long enough for the bride and groom to say I do. Unfortunately, the truce is short lived and, at the reception, someone has decided to play a cruel prank and stuffed a finger in the wedding cake.

While this mystery is enticing to our youth sleuth in love with chemistry and the morgue, she instead must focus on her first professional case at Arthur W. Dogger & Associates. It is a standard case of blackmail that tests Flavia's will to stick with what she is paid for. Fortunately, it pays to take honest work, though, as the client ends up dead, and the detectives must now solve a murder.

In good mystery fashion, the two plot lines end up tying together and passing through each other so nothing is left of the tapestry but a bundled mess of strings. 

I want to be very honest about this series. I am not here for the mystery. They are mediocre--as I find most mystery to be. I am here for Flavia and the chemistry. The characters of Buckshaw and Bishop's Lacey keep me coming back for more adventures. They are an entertaining bunch. I find this series a joy to read each time, and I hope to find many more to come. I'm sad I've made it to the end of the series so far.