Numb Were the Beadsman's Fingers

A Flavia de Luce Novel

A nun’s corpse leads beloved amateur sleuth Flavia de Luce to uncover decades-old secrets in this charming novel in the New York Times bestselling series.

“I love the Flavia de Luce novels! Flavia is the best female detective I’ve ever read, full of realism, self-confidence, and emotion (in roughly equal parts), and her tales are hilarious, engaging, and occasionally heartbreaking.”—Diana Gabaldon

In the cloisters of Golgotha House, a mere binocular’s-squint away from Buckshaw, a nun lies dead. When her fellow Sisters prepare her corpse for burial, they discover that their companion has been living a shocking lie for years. The truth about her past, and the dark reasons she harbored for escaping it, are impossible to fathom.

Charged with cracking this mystery is the firm of Arthur Dogger & Associates (Discreet investigations)—consisting, of course, of the inimitable young Flavia de Luce herself and her faithful partner-in-detection Dogger.

Working under the eye of a glowering Mother Superior, Flavia and Dogger must uncover a decades-old crime and a secret that lies an ocean away—along with a trail of deception that lies closer to home.
© Jeff Bassett
Alan Bradley was the internationally bestselling author of eleven Flavia de Luce mystery novels and the memoir The Shoebox Bible. His first Flavia novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, received the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, the Dilys Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Agatha Award, the Macavity Award, and the Barry Award, and was nominated for the Anthony Award. His other Flavia de Luce works include The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, A Red Herring Without Mustard, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Speaking from Among the Bones, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d, The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place, The Golden Tresses of the Dead, and What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust, as well as the ebook short story “The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse.” Numb Were the Beadsman’s Fingers, the twelfth novel in the Flavia de Luce series, will be published in Fall 2026. Originally from Toronto, he lived on an island in the middle of the Irish Sea. He died in May 2026. View titles by Alan Bradley

About

A nun’s corpse leads beloved amateur sleuth Flavia de Luce to uncover decades-old secrets in this charming novel in the New York Times bestselling series.

“I love the Flavia de Luce novels! Flavia is the best female detective I’ve ever read, full of realism, self-confidence, and emotion (in roughly equal parts), and her tales are hilarious, engaging, and occasionally heartbreaking.”—Diana Gabaldon

In the cloisters of Golgotha House, a mere binocular’s-squint away from Buckshaw, a nun lies dead. When her fellow Sisters prepare her corpse for burial, they discover that their companion has been living a shocking lie for years. The truth about her past, and the dark reasons she harbored for escaping it, are impossible to fathom.

Charged with cracking this mystery is the firm of Arthur Dogger & Associates (Discreet investigations)—consisting, of course, of the inimitable young Flavia de Luce herself and her faithful partner-in-detection Dogger.

Working under the eye of a glowering Mother Superior, Flavia and Dogger must uncover a decades-old crime and a secret that lies an ocean away—along with a trail of deception that lies closer to home.

Author

© Jeff Bassett
Alan Bradley was the internationally bestselling author of eleven Flavia de Luce mystery novels and the memoir The Shoebox Bible. His first Flavia novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, received the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, the Dilys Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Agatha Award, the Macavity Award, and the Barry Award, and was nominated for the Anthony Award. His other Flavia de Luce works include The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, A Red Herring Without Mustard, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Speaking from Among the Bones, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d, The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place, The Golden Tresses of the Dead, and What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust, as well as the ebook short story “The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse.” Numb Were the Beadsman’s Fingers, the twelfth novel in the Flavia de Luce series, will be published in Fall 2026. Originally from Toronto, he lived on an island in the middle of the Irish Sea. He died in May 2026. View titles by Alan Bradley

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