The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009) Alan Bradley

As usual, I didn’t re-read the blurb before diving in, so I had no idea what was was starting, besides a mystery. The title made me think of the South, and cotton plantations, and pecan pie.

I was very very wrong in this.

It is the summer of 1950 and Flavia de Luce is 11 years old. But she’s not quite your typical 11 year old–she lives in Bishop’s Lacey in England and loves chemistry. And when there is a murder, she’s quite intrigued.

I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.

Of course, she has to keep her older sisters from tying her up and locking her in a closet again, if she wants to discover the murderer.

Of course, she has resources many police detectives don’t.

I was nabbed. There was nothing else to d but burst into tears. I hated to do it, but it was the only tool I had with me.

But then she is only eleven.

I remembered a piece of sisterly advice, which Feely once gave Daffy and me:

“If you’re ever accosted by a man,” she’d said, “kick him in the Cassanovas and run like blue blazes!”

Although it had sounded at the time like a useful bit of intelligence, the only problem was that I didn’t know where the Cassanovas were located.

This was an unusual story, and one I quite enjoyed. It was different, and I can see that in real life Flavia might be unbearably irritating, but to read about, she was a delight. I loved the references to chemistry, and the time setting was a fascinating one, in that so many of the things that happened would have been highly unlikely 25 years earlier or later, from Flavia wandering about on her own, to the forensic techniques that had yet to be developed.

If you enjoy British mysteries, I can recommend The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie–even if it’s not set in the Southern US, and pecan pie makes no appearance.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Delacorte Press

 
 

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