3.5 stars. 
 Positives: 
 It was nice to get some questions resolved in this one. The more information we were given in this one, the more intriguing the plot became, and I'm looking forward to finding out more in future books. 
 Negatives: 
 Much more macabre and sad than any of the other Flavia books. (view spoiler)[I did NOT like her ideas about attempting to reincarnate her mother's corpse. All her narrative about that just made me queasy. The experience of the De Luce family's processing the discovery of Harriet's body and subsequent funeral was also very sad. (hide spoiler)] 
 Overall a good read, but I'm hoping that Flavia gets up to her usual shenanigans (chemistry-dabbling, mystery-investigating, etc.) in book 7. This one was a touch too somber for me.