Flavia Gemina's father becomes more critical of her behaviour and also announces that he plans to marry again. Is his intended going to be a wicked stepmother? Is she just after his (non-existent) money? Flavia and her friends investigate.

This is back to the jolly jape tradition of the first book rather than the dark themes of some of the intervening books. Good fun, with the 12 labours of Hercules cleverly interwoven. ( )

I found the thread on which the author chose to hang the mystery, the labours of Hercules, to be rather a thin one. The suggestion of following in Hercules' footsteps comes to Flavia in a dream; the comparison with the myth is stretched in the extreme; and the clues are mostly highly misleading. So the children are basically running around bothering people to no avail, which is not what makes for a good mystery in my mind, although I must admit it is more true-to-life than most YA mysteries in that regard. ( )