Unless some sweetness at the bottom lie,
Who cares for all the crinkling of the pie?
The Art of Cookery, William King

Hurray for Flavia de Luce! She’s an intelligent, feisty, funny, and down-to-earth eleven year old and the heroine of this smash hit debut novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Canadian author Alan Bradley.

Set in 1950 in rural England, the story unfolds in Flavia’s family home, Buckshaw – a mansion of many vintages, which is crumbling around her. The estate is just outside The village of Bishop’s Lacey to which Flavia can easily travel on her trusty bike, Gladys.

One afternoon, Flavia’s father opens the door to find a dead bird with a postage stamp on its beak on the doorstep. The next morning, Flavia finds a stranger’s body in the vegetable garden.

Being a lover of chemistry (Flavia says: “What intrigued me more than anything was finding out the way that everything, all of creation – all of it! – was held together by invisible chemical bonds), and an inquisitive person, Flavia decides to solve the mysteries despite police opposition to her involvement.

Okay, I like detective novels with a good mystery. I love books set in the middle decades of last century – especially if they’re in a rural setting – and add points for that rural setting to be in Britain. So Sweetness had a head start in my books.

But this book deserves a spot on everybody’s reading list. It is impeccably written – the characters are satisfactorily developed (except for her father I thought), the plot advances quickly and evenly, there are enough clues to solve the mystery but plenty of red herrings to throw you off the scent. Perfect score!

Bradley has another Flavia de Luce mystery The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, scheduled for release on March 9th (2010). I will be certain to be reading it!

Link for Canadian readers:
The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie

Reading challenges: This book satisfies four of my reading challenges: Support Your Local Library, What’s In a Name (category #1), First in a Series and, of course, The 100+ Challenge.

Technorati Tags: book review, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley, Flavia de Luce, girl detective, girl chemist, Buckshaw, Bishop’s Lacey, Horace Bonepenny, postage stamps, The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag