The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Alan Bradley

It's difficult being the youngest of three daughters when your father is a recluse and your mother has died. Flavia de Luce feels that her sisters don't love her - especially when they do things like lock her in the closet. But she doesn't care. She takes her revenge whenever possible. She is a budding chemist and knows all about poisons.

One day she and the housekeeper find a dead bird on the door sill with a postage stamp stuck on its sharp beak. Father is a stamp collector. This stamp is not rare yet carries a meaning for Father. The next morning, Flavia goes out in the garden early in the morning and finds a dying man in their garden at Buckshaw. From there she is thrown into the greatest adventure of her life. She gets Dogger, the gardener/chauffeur/man about the place, to check with her, then they call the police.

The dead man is one of Father's school mates in 1920. He was involved in a scheme that drove one of the professors to suicide. Father hasn't seen him since except once or twice in passing. Father is the only person with any motive to kill the man. Flavia starts investigating immediately. She goes into town to discover who the man is and what he wanted with Father. She goes to the library and digs into old newspapers. She talks to people who knew what happened in 1920. She learns about collectible stamps. She travels around the countryside gathering her clues. She's also annoying the detective who is investigating the case. He wants her to stay home, keep her nose out of things, and stay safe. But he doesn't know Flavia yet.

Flavia is definitely a character to meet. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is written in first person narrative from her perspective. She slights her older sisters all the time - but they are mean to her as well. She is intelligent and very happy in her own chemistry lab. Her heroes are famous chemists.

Alan Bradley has written a fun detective mystery that isn't cute cozy. The tone is well done, not over the top. Flavia sounds like a practical English girl. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie takes place in 1950 England where World War II is still very much in people's minds. It has its good twists and turns, although I was able to see where the book was going. Bradley also ends the novel realistically - the sisters still snipe at each other and Father is still a recluse, even from his own daughters. But there is a crack opening to show there are more family feelings there than Flavia would first admit.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
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