The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie By Alan Bradley
Review by Cheryl G. (Poncer)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had a bit of everything, a murder mystery, some social history, interesting tidbits of science and a precocious 11 year-old protagonist.
Flavia de Luce, the protagonist and narrator of the book is a budding chemist, pretty much left to fend for herself in a dysfunctional household in England. The story is set in the 1950’s.
Early one morning, Flavia somehow stumbles upon a dying body in the garden of the mansion she and her family call home and sets out to solve the murder.
She is up against some fun characters, a father who barely communicates with anyone since the death of his wife, 2 older sisters who are more interested in looks and books than in their little sister, some officious police officers and some quirky neighbors.
Despite Flavia’s best efforts to solve the mystery of the dead man, police Inspector Hewitt thwarts her at every turn. He reminds her that “King George is not frivolous”. Flavia isn’t a frivolous child, though. She is a bright, and fun to follow through this book.
I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series, The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag.
