Book Review: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Author: Alan Bradley
Series: A Flavia de Luce Novel (Book 1)
Publication: Delacorte Press (April 24, 2009)

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 Thoughts: This was an interesting historical mystery set in England in 1950. The mystery is told to us by eleven-year-old chemist Flavia de Luce. Flavia who lives with her father and two older sisters is a chemist with a particular interest in poisons. 

The story begins with her being bound, blindfolded, and thrown into a closet - by her two older sisters. She manages to escape but begins to plan her chemical revenge. Oil of poison ivy added to her rather vain oldest sister's lipstick will make an interesting experiment for Flavia.

However, events turn deadly when Flavia finds a man dying in the cucumber patch in her family's garden. She had recently overheard him arguing with her stamp-collecting father. The family's gardener Dogger was also listening in. Now, with the man dead, and her father accused of the murder, Flavia needs to find the true killer to save him.

The mystery leads Flavia to a missing famous stamp and a suicide that happened thirty years earlier to which her father was a witness. 

While I didn't like Flavia at the beginning who seemed quite a sociopath to me, I did come to like her and enjoy her using her great intelligence and knowledge of chemistry to help the police find out what happened to the man in the garden and the very valuable stamp. 

This is the first of a ten-book series. 

Favorite Quote:

"I found a dead body in the cucumber patch," I told them.

"How very like you," Ophelia said, and went on preening her eyebrows. 

I bought this one November 29, 2017. You can buy your copy here.