The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a mystery certain to charm you. Your narrator is Flavia de Luce, a precocious eleven-year-old with a gift for chemical wizardry (her specialty: poison!). Her unique skills make her the only likely sleuth to uncover the truth about a murder that occurs on the grounds of her family’s estate. Much to the chagrin of local law enforcement, Flavia proves she is a bright and driven detective, expertly navigating the back alleys of the 1950s English village in which she lives and enchanting even those who suspect her to be conspiring with the killer.
This is a mystery that is clever without being cute, gripping without being grim. By turns both intellectual and hilarious, it’s a delightful first time novel from Alan Bradley and has been nominated for a number of awards. If you like reading brainy English mysteries with a sense of humor, you’ll love this book.