The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, is a delightful mystery featuring a perfectly precocious sleuth/mad scientist, Flavia De Luce. At only eleven, Flavia is a gifted chemist with a penchant for poison, who, it just so happens, is a fair hand at solving a mystery. Set in the 50’s, I liked the relaxed, old fashioned (and very British!) feel that this book had. There was also a bit of humor, which I appreciated. I really loved Flavia, who was absolutely wonderful. She was whip-smart, sharp-tongued, and just reckless enough to get into some sticky situations. I loved the dynamics between Flavia and her sisters. As for the mystery, while I developed a fairly accurate hunch early on in the book, it was still quite interesting, and kept me guessing on some points. It was very entertaining to follow Flavia as she raced all over the town on her bicycle, Gladys, looking for clues. Overall, I thought this was a fun, fast-paced read. I certainly breezed through it! If you like a good mystery with a charming young detective at its heart, then you will enjoy The sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.
~Tessa
This sounds like the kind of book I would enjoy. You've convinced me to pick it up and add it to my pile.
ReplyDeleteYay! I hope you like it :)
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