The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

Alan Bradley

While out bicycling one afternoon, Flavia de Luce comes across a broken down van. The man in it is Rupert Porson, a puppeteer who has an afternoon television show on BBC. His assistant, Mia, is with him. They have broken down by the church graveyard. The vicar comes out and they are able to help the couple. Flavia, being her curious (ok, nosey) self, hangs around them, learning what she can.

She finds out a number of things she only partially understands at age 11. She already knows that people can do terrible things and admits she has an obsession with death. She begins to make a nuisance of herself but also learns how to give a puppet show. The vicar has induced the couple to give a puppet show while they're in town getting the van fixed. When Rupert falls to the stage instead of the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, Flavia has another mystery to stick her nose into. Inspector Hewitt tries to keep her out but Flavia is persistent.

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag has a number of elements in it. Like the previous book, it takes place in Bishop's Lacy, an English village in the early 1950's. Flavia knows a lot from books and studies, especially about chemicals and poison. When she hears about the crop a local farmer grows and sells, she quickly identifies cannabis. This same farmer had a son who would have been her age if he hadn't accidentally hung himself five years earlier. The vicar's wife is getting jealous of the woman the vicar has to counsel in the course of his job. Rupert is a womanizer and his current assistant is pregnant.

Flavia is not so knowledgeable when it comes to human emotions and interactions. She has read Madame Bovary but doesn't grasp all the significance. There is a humorous scene when she asks Dogger, their general man about the house, what an "affair" is. He rounds the subject in such a way that she is satisfied but he doesn't have to reveal the whole truth.

Flavia's first person narrative voice sets off the book. She is 11 in the years just after World War II. Rationing is still in place in England, although it's not too bad in places like Bishop's Lacy. Her mother died when she was quite young and her older sisters torment her. Their father is usually shut away with his hobby.

The mystery is all right. Alan Bradley added many red herrings and twists, yet the ending is no surprise. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag is an escape cozy mystery that doesn't have a lot of depth. It's enjoyable but certainly not riveting.

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