Monday, February 07, 2011

Teaser Tuesdays: Flavia's Second Case

This week my teaser lines come from a book I haven't actually started reading yet (it was just delivered to my door yesterday). The book is The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, Alan Bradley's second Flavia de Luce novel. Flavia, an eleven-year-old amateur sleuth in early 1950s England, made her debut in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, published in 2008. I read that one last year and really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd take a look at the second novel in the series in preparation for the third installment which is due out later this year. This bit comes from pp. 30-31 of the paperback edition, and is being related by Flavia herself:
It was after all Cynthia, with her rodent features, who had once caught me teetering tiptoe on the altar of St. Tancred's, using one of Father's straight razors to scrape a sample of blue zafre from a medieval stained-glass window....Cynthia had seized me, upended me, and spanked me on the spot, making what I thought to be unfair use of a nearby copy of Hymns Ancient and Modern (Standard Edition).
I'm not exactly sure who Cynthia is or what she has to do with the story, but I do know that if she tried that spanking routine today, she'd probably find herself being put away for a long, long time.



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.
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17 comments:

  1. StephenFebruary 8, 2011 at 12:23 AM

    "Unfair use", heh. On the bright side, thick books are hard to yield forcefully!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JenniferFebruary 8, 2011 at 12:36 AM

    I do like this teaser and want to know more about the book. My TT: http://www.rundpinne.com/2011/02/teaser-tuesday-indefensible.html

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  3. BethFebruary 8, 2011 at 1:22 AM

    Funny! Here is my teaser from the ARC, Heart of Lies by Jill Marie Landis.

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  4. MargFebruary 8, 2011 at 4:44 AM

    This series is on my list of books to read.

    Here is my teaser for this week.

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  5. Beth FFebruary 8, 2011 at 6:27 AM

    I loved the first book in this series -- I must get to this one.

    Here's my teaser

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  6. BelindaFebruary 8, 2011 at 8:07 AM

    Great choice this week LOL. You can find my teaser at The Bookish Snob

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  7. gautami tripathyFebruary 8, 2011 at 9:26 AM

    Great teaser! I gotta check it out!

    Here is my Teaser Tuesday: The Elephant Tree by RD Ronald

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  8. Bev HankinsFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:05 AM

    Great teaser! Very funny.

    Here's mine: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/02/teaser-tuesdays_08.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. Laurel-Rain SnowFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:19 AM

    Ah, I have seen this title around, but hadn't realized it was a sequel to The Sweetness...et. al.

    I have been wanting to read that book, so another one is on the list as well. I agree with you about the spanking...

    Here's my TEASER TUESDAYS

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  10. HeatherFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:29 AM

    Unfair use...LOL--love it! Great teaser, Joy!
    My blog

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  11. HarveeFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:50 AM

    I liked the second book even more than the first! Happyn reading.Here's mine:
    Little Princes

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  12. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2011 at 12:08 PM

    here's mine http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2011/02/teaser-tuesday.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. fredamansFebruary 8, 2011 at 12:19 PM

    Cynthia sounds horrible.

    http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/2011/02/teaser-tuesday_08.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2011 at 1:39 PM

    I love your teaser. Love love love it! And I think I may simply have to run out and find those books now. Great choice!

    Mine is a tad more subdued. (And a reappearance after I haven't been able to do this for a while.) And I promise that the book isn't all about body parts. It's at Bookishgal. :-)

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  15. LoriFebruary 8, 2011 at 2:40 PM

    Cool teaser, Fun cover. I hope you are enjoying your book. Here is my Teaser for Tuesday.

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  16. Aisle BFebruary 8, 2011 at 5:59 PM

    My book friend Bina raves about this series. I loved the first one and have to read the second one soon.

    Hope you enjoy Flavia like I did.

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:37 PM

    Such an interesting teaser! I hope there was at least a good reason she was taking that sample.

    You can find my TT here: http://ksbooks.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/teaser-tuesday-30/

    ReplyDelete

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