The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Novel, by Alan Bradley was a very enthusiastic recommendation from my mother. She thought that many teenagers (and adults) would really like this book, especially if they enjoyed reading mystery fiction.
Meet eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison.
It is the summer of 1950-and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia's family calls home. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned on its beak. 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 contratry. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life."
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a masterfully told tale of deceptions- and a rich literary delight.
"Impressive as a sleuth and enchanting as a mad scientist, Flavia is most endearing as a little girl who has learned how to amuse herself in a big lonely house." The New York Times Book Review
"First-time mystery novelist Alan Bradley's fictional setting of Bishop's Lacey joins Agatha Christie's St. Mary Mead and Arthur Conan Doyle's London as delightful destinations for readers....That isn't thunder you hear. It's the sound of mystery fans scurrying to the bookstore." Winnipeg Free Press
Happy Reading!
I can't wait to read this!! I will post my thoughts when I finish reading it!!
