The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Synopsis: Eleven year old genius Flavia de Luce is passionately interested in chemistry and crime, so when she stumbles across a dying man in her cucumber patch early one morning she is delighted. When the police arrest her father for the murder, however, she is less pleased, and her investigations

Show More

take on a new urgency - especially when the real murderer takes an interest in her.

I was pleased to win this Early Reviewers Member Giveaway title, because I like English mysteries and thought it would be a fun read. I was wrong. My biggest problem, which would have led to my putting the book down after a few pages if I'd encountered it in a bookstore, or leaving it unfinished if a friend had loaned it to me, was that I did not like Flavia: a sizable problem, since the story is told in her first-person voice. I did not find her quite believable as an eleven year old, even as an eleven year old genius, and I was put off by her egotism, and her impersonal and manipulative relations with her family and with the other characters in the book. Most of these characters are eccentrics to one degree or another, and very few of them seem particularly fond of each other - or particularly likable. One of the few relatively normal and sympathetic characters is the detective inspector against whom Flavia competes to solve the mystery, and he is fairly one-dimensional.

My second reservation about this book concerns the plot. Flavia encounters an important bit of evidence regarding the murder early on, but later seems to have forgotten it; when the murderer reveals his method at the end, however, she isn't surprised. Although she investigates and works some things out for herself, other large chunks of important background information are told to her by characters who have no obvious reason to do so - especially as some of them dislike her.

Aside from these points, the book is generally well written and replete with interesting detail - sometimes too much detail. From the middle of the book on, the pace picks up, and the narrator's voice becomes less intrusive. I think this book might appeal more to teen-aged readers, or people who like this particular sub-genre; for myself, it just wasn't my cup of tea. Good luck to the writer, but I won't be reading the next book in the series.

Show Less

I found this book at a little independent bookseller close to my work and I am glad I did. It is a great little mystery set in 1950s England. The detective is Flavia de Luce the third daughter of minor nobility living in a crumbling manor house with her two older sisters (both gifted in their own

Show More

right and nemeses for their sister Flavia) and her philatelist father who lives in his world of stamps after the disappearance of Flavia's mother who was mountaineering.

They are an eccentric family, in a way that is not unfamiliar in literature, but it is the voice of Flavia that is striking and the real selling point of the mystery. Though at times the voice might seem a tad precocious, I recall my own sisters and I reading wildly outside expectations at that age and was willing to believe this gifted if somewhat unreliable and vengeful character. She is 12 years old, confident, intelligent but often unobserved by adults around her and she is a gifted chemist with a passion for poisons. When she finds dying man in the family cucumber patch she begins her life of detection.

This is the first novel by Bradley and first in a series to feature Flavia. It was enjoyable and cleverly plotted and he has room for Flavia to grow and to comment on class and cultural changes in 1950's England in future volumes. I also suspect more about Flavia's mother will come to light. It was well worth reading and I will be looking for the next in the series.

Show Less

This is a review of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009) by Alan Bradley. Rather than read the book, I listened to the Audiobook edition narrated by Jayne Entwistle borrowed from the Knoxville Public Library.

Once upon a time, it was 1950 to be more accurate, there was an intelligent little

Show More

English girl named Flavia de Luce, a super-sleuth, who had everything an eleven year old bundle of curiosity could want, pig tails, eyeglasses, braces, and a fascination with poisons, which fascination was supported by a fully equipped Victorian chemical laboratory on the third floor of an old country manor named Buckshaw where Flavia and her two teasing and taunting older sisters, Ophelia (17) and Daphne (13), lived with their father, Colonol de Luce, a widower and an aloof man who in retirement spent most of his time indoors exploring his world-class stamp collection.

Flavia's story begins with a murder to investigate. Flavia happened across a dying man in the Buckshaw cucumber patch. Indeed, Flavia was kneeling by the side of the red-headed man as he uttered his last word, "vale," and took his last breath. A stranger to her, Flavia presently learned that the corpse was known to others as Horace Bonepenny. What was he doing in her father's cucumber patch? Dogger to the rescue ... Arthur Wellesley Dogger was the devoted family retainer, who also worked as the gardener at Buckshaw. Dogger was Flavia’s mentor and best friend. It was he who taught Flavia how to pick locks, while remembering the three Ts, Torque, Tension, and Tenacity. Flavia learned that Dogger had recently overheard a heated argument between Colonel de Luce and Bonepenny. Subsequently, Flavia found herself matching wits with Inspector Hewitt, who was prepared to arrest Colonel de Luce for the murder of Bonepenny. Flavia was determined to solve the case before her innocent father could be charged and convicted. And thus develops the mystery of the Penny Black and the red-headed stranger.

A famous British postage stamp known as the "Penny Black" plays an important role in this entertaining mystery novel. The stamp was discovered impaled on the beak of a dead jack snipe found on the porch by Mrs. Mullet, Buckshaw's part-time housekeeper and cook. Flavia’s father was distraught by the appearance of the dead bird and stamp, Flavia’s interest was piqued as to what the dead snipe and stamp could mean. What was there about that specter that distraught her father so?

For you booklovers out there, there is an extraordinary community library in the little village of Bishop's Lacey that was well within walking distance of Buckshaw. You will frequently see Flavia riding around town on her bicycle named Gladys, the community library being one of Flavia's favorite desinations because its holdings supported her many research interests, both inductive and deductive.

I was drawn to this mystery novel by my daughter, an avid reader of mysteries. I learned from her that Alan Bradley, the septuagenarian author, was a man my age and that this was his first novel. It was a delightful experience to have the world of make-believe revived in me by Bradley who promptly put my inner child in touch with eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce. I am eagerly looking forward to the next mystery in this series to see what secrets my new-found friend, Flavia, will uncover. Flavia is so much more interesting to have as a friend than typical 21st century eleven-year-old girls as depicted on television. Some eleven-year-old girls today are still children and want to play with dolls and toys while others are already wanting to go on dates and get phone calls from boys. Not so Flavia -- and not so my inner child who wants to spend more time with this particular 11 year old, talk to her, listen to her and try to relate to where she is in her stage of development.

It seems to me that I went through her stage of inquisitive curiosity, too. But perhaps not at age eleven. I can't help but wonder now, just how old was I when I was where Flavia is in her development as a sleuthhound?

To what shall I compare this book? The only thoughts that come to mind are the great mystery stories from the past by the likes of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. Yes, in my mind, Alan Bradley and his little super-sleuth belong in their companay.

Show Less

The elements to a great book are in place. There is an eleven year old spunky, precocious, delightful girl who loves chemistry and cleverly finds ways to get even with her two older pesky sisters.

There is a plot which includes a dead man found in the garden, a crazy gardener, a lovely English

Show More

house, and a likeable father who happens to be accused of the murder.

While I laughed out loud at some of the musings of young Flavia DeLuce as she mixes her chemical potions, intelligently and humorously describes her sisters flaws and and logically tries to solve the crime, the book seemed to drag on and on and on and on.

It was delightfully written, there was a good plot, but the book was twice as long as it needed to be. Along the way, I grew bored and the story seemed to fizzle.

Show Less

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a delightfully quirky, painstakingly highbrow murder mystery in which the heroine is an extremely bright and resourceful eleven-year-old girl. Caught in a maddening swirl of stamp-collecting, chemistry and murder, Flavia de Luce is still every bit the

Show More

snobbish hyper-intelligent crimesolver of old whodunits, with one distinct difference--she is exceedingly fun to follow around. Though well-versed in pretty much everything (the classics, geography, science, witticism), she never demeans the reader in her endless attempts to demean everyone else. Perhaps in an older protagonist, this trait would be a major bore and potential threat to actually finishing the book; in Flavia, it's just plain fun.

All in all, this novel is well-written, humorous and a good read. The plot is fairly predictable, but the fact that the main character isn't balances that slight well. The editing could use another once-over, but was decent for an advance reader copy. Don't pick up this book for the plot or for a stunning murder mystery! Pick it up to meet Flavia de Luce.

Show Less

Flavia de Luce is a precocious 11 year old. She's a chemist, a sleuth, a tormentor of siblings. She and her sisters, Ophelia and Daphne, live with their father in Buckshaw, an English country mansion which has seen better days. Shades of I Capture the Castle? Perhaps. But Flavia has her own

Show More

distinct voice, her own particular style.

There are two murders, somehow related, one thirty years in the past and one that occurs within the opening pages of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Throw in a couple of extremely rare postage stamps, a dead jack snipe on the doorstep, a stranger who comes to town, and the game is afoot.

Set in post-war England, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie deliciously captures an era long past, a time perhaps marginally more innocent but certainly no less complicated and dangerous than our own. Alan Bradley is a first time author who, if this delightful, captivating, and prettily written novel is any indication of his talents--and with a little judicious nudging from conscientious booksellers--should have a long and successful career.

Show Less

A gentle murder mystery story, somewhat in the vein of Agatha Christie, but with a bit more chemistry thrown in.

I'm going to start sounding like a broken record soon, but this is another book written by a North American and set in England. I seem to have read a few such books recently and I have

Show More

to say that this one, like the Connie Willis and Lev Grossman examples I've read, makes some mistakes with the language. I may be hypersensitive, but there are certain turns of phrase that are not used in British English, but which all three of these authors put into British mouths. Personally, I'd be quite nervous of writing a book in a different dialect of English. I admire these authors for doing so, but do wish they'd employ a British editor to let them know where they're going wrong.

In this book, it was 'cinder blocks' (instead of 'breeze blocks' or 'concrete blocks') that caught my attention, and the use of 'go do something' instead of 'go *and* do something'.

The protagonist in this book is 11 years old and the contents are perfectly fine for all ages - there's no sex and only mild violence. I would say that this could be marketed at a young adult audience, though it was in the adult mystery section of my library.

Show Less

I really wanted to like murder-mystery The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, but ultimately it suffered from Trying Too Hard.

Perhaps I was feeling in a particularly cynical mood, but as I read through the book, I found myself mentally rolling my eyes a bit at all the transparency in all the story

Show More

elements: vaguely period 50’s British countryside (quaint!), a noble line with a history of some crazy (eccentric!), a doddering housekeeper (comfortable!), a rambling old town and its colorfully poor inhabitants (vibrant!), family members who are mostly negligent but care when it counts (touching!)—elements built around the murder which itself involving pie (wacky!) and stamp-collecting (esoteric!). There’s nothing wrong with the aesthetic of Charmingly Quirky in theory*, but Sweetness’s attempts at such are more clumsy than successful: for example, to underline the mid-1900s time period, Alan Bradley frequently names the brands of products, as if the inclusion of such is interesting in itself, rather than just jarring. Nowhere is the book more contrived than with its protagonist Flavia de Luce, more a bundle of ’precocious, prickly, nosy, chemistry-genius, poison-enthusiast’ 11-year-old, than actual character.

Futhermore, in all this, Bradley appears to neglect the most important part of a story; he forgets to make it coherent. He seems to really struggle to craft a story that logically goes from point A to point B, let alone make the characters make any sense (or at least stay consistent) at all. And more a death knell for a mystery, he appears to make frequent continuity errors: for instance, on page 17, Flavia's bedroom is described to be "in the south--or Tar--wing" only to quickly relocated by page 24 to "the 'Tar,' or east wing". Y'all, I notice these things.

*For an excellent execution of Charmingly Quirky, see the show Pushing Daisies, which smartly used it to marry the black humor and mushy hope at the center of the show.

Show Less

Alleykat and twink have written excellent reviews and I have really nothing to add, except this information....
Along with several of my book club friends, we met the author at the Bohemian Bagel Cafe last week. (Of course, we all bought the book.) What an interesting story. The author, Alan

Show More

Bradley, is a retired TV engineer who submitted 13 pages to the 2007 Debut Dragon Awards and won. He snagged a deal for 6 books...'such a coup for a first novel'. "The jury lauded it as original and intriquing, with a deliciously deceptive opening which really sets the tone of macabre fun" The draw seems to be the 11-year old sleuth and aspiring chemist, Flavia, whose fresh and appealing character drives the story. The book is being published in 19 countries and will be released in the US in late April.
The book is written for adults, but young adults have also been hooked. No, the author has never read Harry Potter. According to him, he aims to write unpretentiously with the voice of an 11-year old. He claims that his character has taken control of him. He has planned at least 5 more books with Flavia not aging much beyond her 11 years, but does not intend to stop at 6 books...
Highly recommeded for a complete change of pace!

Show Less

Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was a prizewinner before it was even published - the first chapter winning the CWA debut dagger in 2007. Since then that chapter has developed into a fine first novel, the start of what will be a 3-part series of Flavia de Luce detective

Show More

novels. Flavia de Luce, an 11-year old, the youngest, and much put upon, daughter of 3. Forced to withdraw from the malevolence of her elder sisters, she has esconced herself in the long abandoned Victorian chemical laboratory at the top of the family mansion. . She’s a precocious clever-clogs, meddling in things she shouldn’t and tenacious in all she does, whether it be wreaking revenge on her “ugly” sisters or seeking to exonerate her father from a false charge of murder. The setting in 1950 lends much charm. The comic timing too is masterful in places - it’s unsophisticated and clean and made me laugh out loud more than once. You need to be accepting of Flavia’s cleverness and if you do, you’ll learn much about stamp-collecting, magical illusions and chemistry. Flavia does a rather fine line in poison …..

Show Less

While well-written with interesting characters, there was no hook to pull me in this book. The story somehow manages to integrate stamp collecting and chemistry as integral parts of the plot, but neither subject interests me and the author was unable to put a spin on either to really make me feel

Show More

involved in the book. The precocious 11-year-old protagonist is way smart for her age, but doesn't have any of the silliness or sarcasm that one would expect to bring this character to life as a relatable - or even just realistic - girl. Instead you have a character that acts much older than she is said to be, getting into situations over her head.

It's not a particularly bad book, especially if you like mysteries or have an interest in stamp collecting/England circa-1950/chemistry/young precocious protagonists, but I saw the "twist" early on. There was nothing in the story that made me want to keep reading and it took me almost a 100 pages before it picked up so that I found something to interest me enough to want to continue.

It just wasn't my type of book.

Show Less

This was a really fun, fast read and Flavia is a brilliant heroine...if a little crazy about poison and a bit too curious for her own good. Although the whole chemistry obsession kind of made her more awesome (if a bit more unbelievable) in my book! My favorite part was the random logical jumps

Show More

that she makes to solve the case (the killer must have smuggled the jack snipe in a pie! So he must have come from Norway!) that leave you, and the rest of the characters raising eyebrows. Love the Sherlockian homage.

Flavia's age and precocity definitely sets the tone for the book. While her brain works much faster than the adults' around her, she's fearless in a way that only an 11-yr old can be, which gives the whole story a sort of fairy tale air.

I don't think this book was billed as a Young Adult, but I think it'd be perfect for adventurous preteens girls...as well as adults looking for a bit of fun in their murder mysteries, of course. ;)

(X-posted on Goodreads)

Show Less

Flavia de Luce is 11 and fascinated with poison and chemistry. She mostly uses her peculiar interests to torment her sisters, but when someone dies in the garden, she is takes it upon herself to investigate what exactly has happened. She is intelligent, precocious, and very well written. She rides

Show More

her bicycle, Gladys, all over the counryside in pursuit of clues. This is the start of the Flavia series and I look forward to reading the rest.

Food: This book is pie, but not for dessert. This is shepherd's pie, layers of savory deliciousness, some light and some meaty. The combination of humor, danger, and mystery is very well balanced.

Show Less

Precocious eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce lives at Buckshaw, her family’s ancestral Victorian manor, in the sleepy English village of Bishop’s Lacey. Flavia is mostly left to her own devices by her father and two older sisters who are preoccupied with their own interests: stamp collecting,

Show More

romance novels, and boys. An aspiring chemist, she spends most of her time in Buckshaw’s well-equipped chemistry lab. At the start of summer 1950, Flavia makes two inexplicable discoveries at Buckshaw: a dead snipe is found on the doorstep, with a Queen Victoria postage stamp impaled on its beak; and a stranger is found dead in the cucumber patch. Flavia instinctively turns sleuth, grabs her trusty bicycle, Gladys, and is off to “help” local authorities solve the crime.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first of four Flavia de Luce novels. Bradley is well written, witty, and sharply humourous; and Flavia herself is an absolute delight! The Sweetness will, I think, delight both adult and young adult readers. Recommended!

Show Less

Alan Bradley has commented that Flavia de Luces walked "full-blown" onto the pages of another book he was writing and "hijacked the story". I can believe this. I have seldom come across a character that is as alive as Flavia, the utterly unique, eleven-year-old heroine of Alan Bradley's new series.

Show More

She is a totally smart, precocious and believable person in her own right. In 1950, when this story takes place, children were left far more alone to develop their personal time activities. Every moment wasn't planned for them; they didn't rush from one guided activity to another. They found what interested them and dove into it to whatever degree their intelligence and concentration span allowed. Flavia has a deep and abiding interest in chemistry and poisons, and, to me, her delights in them were exactly right. She lives in an ancestral manor home and has one wing almost to herself. A youthful ancestor had enjoyed an interest in chemistry and was indulged with a fully equipped lab where, now, Flavia can read and experiment and the small stinky experiences that are a by-product usually don't disturb the rest of the household.

She's not a grown-up in disguise. She has a running feud with her sisters - as siblings are prone to do. She even treated the lipstick of one of her sisters with poison ivy and waited daily for signs of a result, recording each observation in her diary. She experiences some moments of joy when the result becomes obvious and then suffers the consequences when 'payback' comes her way. Flavia rides her deceased mother's bicycle and sometimes pretends she is flying. And, she believes music should be listened to in an overstuffed chair with her legs dangling over the side.

In other words, she's a kid. But she is smart, and when her father is arrested for a murder she is determined to prove him innocent.

Her faithful sidekick is Dogger who has taught her how to pick locks. (Something that comes in handy as in the opening scene we find Flavia locked in an attic closet by her sisters as part of their on-going sibling war). Dogger served under Flavia's father in the war and is a traumatized ex-prisoner-of-war who has bad moments from time to time. Flavia, in a child's intuitive way knows exactly how to 'rescue' him. They have a wonderful relationship.

It is a little unusual for an adult book to have a child as the protagonist, but because of Flavia, it works marvelously well. She may have highjacked Bradley's book; she will certainly highjack your heart. This is a mystery series to be savored.

(This review originally written in Dec 2011, but disappeared when I changed the book source, so I have reentered it.)

Show Less

Set in the English countryside near the village of Bishop's Lacey in 1950, eleven year old Flavia deLuce lives with two older sisters and her father, the family factotum Dogger and the part-time housekeeper and cook Mrs. Mullet at a decaying manor home called Buckshaw. Flavia's dad passes most of

Show More

his time alone, collecting stamps and listening to music. Ophelia, the eldest sister, prides herself on her appearance, and then there's Daphne, who always has her nose stuck in a book. Flavia's mother died during a mountain-climbing trip in Tibet when Flavia was still very small, but her dad manages to hold the family together even though money is tight and the home needs major repairs. As the story opens, Mrs. Mullet discovers a dead bird with an antique stamp through its beak, and shortly thereafter, Flavia discovers a dying man in the garden. After all is said and done, Mr. deLuce is arrested, and Flavia's detective career begins in order to clear him.



What makes this story work is both the character of Flavia and the author's writing. It's often hard to remember sometimes that Flavia is only eleven, and the word precocious hardly begins to describe her. Because she's 11, people tend not to pay attention to her, and she's the most scheming little thing you can imagine. Her mind never stops working, she is as relentless as a pit bull when she's on to something, and she's brilliant -- she's a master of chemistry at her tender young age, and she sees all facets of the world around her in ways adults cannot. She has this wonderful gift of being able to make pretty much anyone tell her anything. At the same time, you get little glimpses into Flavia the little girl, such as when her sisters tease her, or when she thinks about her mother. As far as the author's writing, even though his main character is this precocious 11-year old girl, he still hangs on to the realities of post-war England. Dogger, for example, suffers what we would call post-traumatic stress disorder, after suffering through the atrocities of a POW camp. The family home, Buckshaw, once a beautiful and elegant manor, has seen better days. Bradley's characterizations are excellent, each person with his or her own voice and clearly-defined place in this story.And, most importantly, this story does not devolve into the realm of "cutesy" or sickeningly sweet at all. It's fun and yet at the same time, it's intelligent.

As far as the mystery goes, the whodunit is a bit transparent, but you really won't care because this book is so well written. You end up being engrossed in the world of Bishop's Lacey and in the deLuce family, and especially in Flavia, so while the core murder mystery is good, there's so much more going on that takes you over as a reader. I can highly recommend this book to anyone -- definitely one of my favorites for this reading year.

Show Less

Set in England in the 1950s, the 11-year-old, chemistry-obsessed Flavia de Luce tries to solve the mystery of a mysterious dead body she finds in her family's garden. The word precocious may have been invented to describe Flavia. The preteen sleuth reminds me of Kate in What Was Lost, whom I loved.

Show More

The story weaves in fascinating information about stamps, chemistry and magic tricks.

One of my favorite elements of the book is Flavia's relationship with her distant father and crabby older sisters. Her mother died when she was a baby, so these people are all she has and yet their affection for each other is stoic at best. I really loved the characters, including the loyal gardener, Dogger. The mystery was so-so; enough to keep me interested, but it wasn't enthralling. The strength of the book really lies in the charismatic firecracker that leaves you wondering if you should send her to her room or give her a hug. I'll definitely be reading the sequel.

"It occurred to me that heaven must be a place where the library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No, eight days a week."

Show Less

This book didn't work for me at all. I didn't believe Flavia de Luce, 11 year old amateur chemist and girl detective-- as a character. The mystery story wasn't involving either. I was disappointed.

By the time pre-teen Flavia de Luce discovers a dying man in the cucumber patch behind the house, the reader is well aware that she is an extraordinary child. The youngest and smartest of three sisters, she delights in thinking up means of tormenting her older sisters while she appears to be an

Show More

innocent onlooker. At some point Flavia has discovered an ancestor's lab in a remote wing of the house and she has taken up chemistry as a hobby, developing a particular passion for poisons.

Flavia recognizes that the location of the murder points to one of the occupants of the house as the obvious suspect. Taking advantage of the tendency adults have to underestimate her due to her age, she manages to stay a step ahead of the police as she attempts to resolve all of the mysteries surrounding the stranger's death. Flavia is indeed an extraordinary child, but she is still a child. She might be well ahead of her peers, and many adults, in book learning, but she lacks the knowledge and maturity that are gained through life experience. The story is narrated from Flavia's perspective, and her perception, while sharp, is nevertheless distorted by her youth.

This was a fun read with a nice mix of intellectual puzzle and adventure. I would have loved this book when I was Flavia's age, and I think young readers who like mystery and adventure stories would enjoy reading about Flavia. Those of us who grew up with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys will probably enjoy it, too. I look forward to the next book in this series!

Show Less

What a wonderful, fun and quirky mystery! This mystery focused on the life and times of Flavia de Luce is an excellent addition to the genre. The opening is strong, and I found myself immediately drawn to the (possibly homicidal) young protagonist. The book is filled with strange and not always

Show More

sympathetic characters that draw the reader into Flavia's almost surreal landscape. I thought the plot was well-drawn, and even though I guessed the identity of the villain, I needed to keep reading just to learn more about how Flavia would solve the mystery. An excellent effort that could easily turn into the beginning of a series; I for hope to read more about young Flavia de Luce!

Show Less

Entertaining and quirky, this debut novel was well worth read. I was immediately drawn to the precocious 11-year-old heroine, with her love of chemistry, her passionate obsession with poisons and her beloved bicycle named Gladys. The book is filled with strange characters, Flavia's unsympathetic

Show More

family among them - each encounter serves to further enhance the bizarre, almost surreal nature of Flavia's surroundings.

Bradley's mystery plot unfolds at a good pace, with enough twists and turns to keep Flavia guessing - though I had it figured out pretty quickly, my enjoyment of the book came from watching Flavia reach the same conclusion. Four stars, a highly recommended read!

Show Less

Oh I loved, loved, loved this book!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie introduces us to eleven year old Flavia DeLuce. She lives with her father and two sisters in an old mansion in 1950's England. The house is full of nooks and crannies - and a old chemistry lab. Flavia practices making poisons

Show More

there. (yes poisons!) She and her older sisters are constantly thinking of ways to torment each other. Their eccentric father keeps himself occupied with his philatelic obsession.We are introduced to Flavia in the first paragraph of the novel....

"It was as black in the closet as old blood. They had shoved me in and locked the door. I breathed heavily through my nose, fighting desperately to remain calm. I tried counting to ten on every intake of breath, and to eight as I released each one slowly into the darkness. Luckily for me, they had pulled the gag so tightly into my open mouth that my nostrils were left unobstructed, and I was able to draw in one slow lungful after another of the stale, musty air."

Flavia escapes unharmed, but plans to pay her sisters back. However, the appearance of a dead bird with a postage stamp speared through it's beak and her father's horrified reaction distract her. But it is the dead body found in the cucumber patch that really enthralls her. When her father is arrested for the murder, Flavia sets out to solve the crime on her own.

Flavia is one of the most endearing, captivating, curious, beguiling, precocious characters I've ever discovered in the pages of a book. The crime is interesting, but it is Flavia's personality that is the real draw for me.

"Whenever I'm out of doors and find myself wanting to have a first-rate think, I fling myself down on my back, throw my arms and legs out so that I look like an asterisk, and gaze at the sky. For the first little while, I'm usually entertained by my 'floaters, those wormy little strings of protein that swim to and fro across one's field of vision like dark little galaxies. When I'm not in a hurry, I stand on my head to stir them, up, and then lie back to watch the show, as if it were an animated cinema film."

Although the idea of an eleven year old for a protagonist seems unusual for an adult detective novel, it just somehow works. Harriet the Spy for grown ups. (I really wanted to be Harriet when I was younger!)

This is the first in a series that Bradley has planned - The Buckshaw Chronicles. I will be on the edge of my seat waiting for the second!

Show Less

A delightful and refreshing read! Engaging characters and a rich setting.

The story has faults, yes. The main character, Flavia de Luce, is supposed to be an 11-year-old girl. I thought the author managed to stay truer to Flavia's voice in the emotional realm. Intellectually, the character would

Show More

really have been more accurately represented as a highly gifted teenager. However, I generally found the character to be so enjoyable that I was, for the most part, willing to suspend disbelief of an 11-year-old having such intellectual prowess (it is a work of fiction, after all!).

To me, the richest part of the story is a conversation between Flavia and her father. I don't believe in spoilers, so I won't set the context of that passage in this review. Suffice to say, I thought the author did a lovely job of staying true to voice, and that entire passage greatly enriched the story for me.

This strikes me as a book that I would have LOVED as a pre-teen/teen...where were you 25 years ago, Flavia de Luce?! Realizing how much I would have loved this book as a teen also contributed to making this a fun read. So, my inner teenage girl gives it 5 stars, and my adult self gives it a hearty 3 1/2!

Show Less

Loved the title, loved the cover illustration, but didn't much care for the book. Flavia de Luce is simply unbelievable. Even a precocious 11-year old would not have at her fingertips the repertoire of quotations, the chemical formulas, the musical knowledge, or the powers of deductions that this

Show More

child does. We know that Harry Potter is a fantasy, and we expect magical acts and amazing coincidences. Flavia just doesn't cut it as a 1950's heroine. I was also unimpressed with the similes that littered every page. Not sure why I finished reading it.

Show Less