The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Flavia de Luces is the most interesting eleven year old that I have met in quite some time.  Not only is she fascinated by poisons, so even uses them on her unsuspecting sisters.   Love that special lipstick she makes for her eldest sister. 

Now Flavia is not the only intriguing person in her household.  Her mother Harriet is missing and presumed dead for many years.  Dogger, Arthur Wellesley Dogger, is currently the gardener, but has performed a number of roles in the manner over the years.  He continues to suffer flashbacks to the war.  I also find Mrs. Mullet the cook unusual.  She puts up with all the oddities of the family and never comments.  I hope to see more of her in a future book.  Finally, there is her father.  He has quite the wide and varied background which is very slowly and deliberately revealed to us, but only in the slimmest of details.

I thorough loved this book.  Were I a young teen I would have re-read it a half dozen times by now.  The characters are so real that I immediately wanted to love or hate them or totally ignore them as irrelevant to me.  The setting is so well described that I could imagine myself pedalling down the lane alongside of Flavia.

I highly recommend this novel to all, regardless of age, who enjoy a good mystery.  I am looking forward to The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag, the next adventure in this series.

For further information about Flavia and Mr. Bradley, visit Flavia's site and join her fan club.

Thanks to RandomHouse Canada for the cover photo and Bio of Alan Bradley.

After reading Petty Witter's review at Pen and Paper, I requested this book from my library.

Also reviewed at:Dorte at DJ's krimiblog
 Martha at Hey, I want to read That

The Flavia de Luce stories:

1  The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
2 The  Weed that Strings the Hangman`s Bag
3  A Red Herring Without Mustard
4  I am Half-Sick of Shadows
5  Speaking fron among the Bones
5.5 The Curious case of the Copper Corpse 
6  The Dead in their Vaulted Arches
7 The Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust



This is my 4th book for the 4th Canadian Book Challenge hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.  There is still time to join.  Read 13 books by Canadian authors and blog about the book.