Sunday, October 10, 2010

Book Review: The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie by Alan Bradley

The Sweetness At The Bottom of the Pie is a very endearing mystery set in England in the 1950's. It's heroine, Flavia de Luce (such a fabulous name) is a precocious eleven-year-old chemistry enthusiast with a dazzling intellect which she puts to use when her father is accused of murder. It all begins when, upon hearing a raucous in the cucumber pit below her window in the middle of the night, Flavia goes down to investigate and discovers a very nearly dead man who breathes his dying breath right into her face. Well far from being horrified, this is by far the most interesting thing that has happened in Flavia's life and she is determined to solve the mystery of who he is, why he is here and how he died.

This book was no work of genius but I loved it just the same. The character of Flavia, though annoyingly bright, is so likeable and very clever for an eleven-year-old. The plot of this book has lots of delicious twists and turns, lots of interesting trivia and delectable language. There are old-fashioned English policemen, secret identities, custard pies, stamps, King George, picturesque scenery (so I imagine), a character called Mr Twining (my favourite brand of tea) and a lot of general English delight.

I haven't read a lot of mysteries. My favourite series of mystery books are the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde, I love mystery when mixed with humour. This book is often humourous, to me simply the premise of it was humourous!! This is the first in what promises to be a simply delightful series.

2 comments:

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

This does sound delightful! Thanks for sharing.

Amy

The Bookworm said...

I've heard good things about this one. I need to read it.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/