Mystery Review: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1) by Alan Bradley

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1)
by Alan Bradley

Description:
It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.

For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”


My Review:
This is the first in a delightful mystery series featuring the precocious young detective, Flavia de Luce.

What I most enjoy about this book is the young detective herself. She’s rather overly interested in chemistry, especially poisons, and her asides on the subject are interesting. Besides that, she’s very good at getting herself into trouble, while all the while wheedling clues out of unlikely sources. All the while, she’s still a little girl, and she uses that to her advantage.

Besides that, I thought the mystery was quite good. Obviously, I don’t want to go into detail because discovery is what it’s all about.

I picked this up upon recommendation from a friend. I strongly pass on that recommendation to folks who enjoy a good, lighthearted mystery with some darker aspects.

I borrowed the audiobook from the library.


About the Author:

 

Alan Bradley received the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, his first novel, which went on to win the Agatha Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Macavity Award and the Spotted Owl Award. He is the author of many short stories, children's stories, newspaper columns, and the memoir The Shoebox Bible. He co-authored Ms. Holmes of Baker Street with the late William A.S. Sarjeant. Bradley lives in Malta with his wife and two calculating cats. His seventh Flavia de Luce mystery, "As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust" will be published in the US and Canada on January 6, 2015, and in the UK on April 23.

The first-ever Flavia short story, "The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse" has recently been published in eBook format, as has his 2006 memoir, "The Shoebox Bible".


The Flavia de Luce Series (9 books):





I've already read several of these. They just get better.