The
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley (3.5)
I don’t
remember how I found this little gem, but I am now officially hooked on Flavia
de Luce, the main character of Alan Bradley’s award-winning mystery series. In
this first book we are introduced to Flavia, an 11 year-old British girl in the
early 1950’s with an inquisitive nature and a precocious personality. She is a
mix between Nancy Drew and Temperance Brennan (from Kathy Reich’s novels). Unlike the Nancy Drew books, this is written
for adults, though it is not too gruesome for young adults. Flavia lives with
her father and two older sisters in a rambling old house in the English
countryside. Her adventurous mother died mysteriously when Flavia was very
young and her retired military father seems lost in more ways than one without
her. In this story Flavia stumbles upon a dead man in their garden, who just
happens to have visited her father earlier in the day. Worried that her father
will be implicated, Flavia embarks on her own investigation. In addition to
being quite funny, Flavia is also a skilled chemist and makes more progress
than the local police. I found this to be a good mystery with a likable, smart
and funny main character. I have already gotten the second Flavia book from the
library.
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