The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, quite strangely (and, as our proprietor suggested, distastefully) titled, is truly a remarkably original and intelligent debut novel from Canadian author Alan Bradley. Guided by an eleven-year-old protagonist--with a precocious vocabulary and a keen interest in poisons--readers are led hop-skip across the English countryside in order to unravel the mystery surrounding her father and his curious stamp collection.
Early one morning, young Flavia de Luce and her father find a dead Jack Snipe on the doorstep with a stamp pierced by the end of its bill. Colonel de Luce, as Flavia notices, reacts in an odd way: with fear. The next morning, Flavia discovers a man lying in the cucumber patch, and as she draws near, he breathes his last word to her ear: Vale.
Confused? I bet you are. But intrigued? I know I was.
Once I began this book, I couldn't put it down. I'm never one for any old mystery novel--especially those that ignore character development and depth in exchange for an engaging plot--but I must say The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie does not sacrifice a thing. It is both well-written and comical, with an original voice and a cast of characters overflowing with oddity and nuance. AND, I really enjoyed reading it: it had me laughing and it had me guessing.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first in a series of Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley. For his first novel, Bradley received the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award.
