The Sweetness at the Bottom of the pie

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Mystery / Historical / Bradley, C. Alan	4-week checkout	Due 05-18-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Mystery / Historical / Bradley, C. Alan	4-week checkout	Due 05-22-2024

Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, must exonerate her father of murder. Armed with more than enough knowledge to tie two distant deaths together and examine new suspects, she begins a search that will lead her all the way to the King of England himself.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

a fun read submitted by manz on May 4, 2010, 12:01pm I really liked this book! Flavia le Duce is a charming character. (I am a fan of adult books with a child as a main character. Can I say "Alex Award!"?)

Well paced, and well written, I look forward to more in the series... "The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag" is out now.

Irresistible Heroine submitted by Sara W on June 21, 2011, 9:42am Flavia de Luce may be my new favorite detective. I love Precious Ramotswe and Ms. Marple, but Flavia has an irresistible edge of having a bit of a mean streak, a talent for concocting poisons and a habit of getting in over her head.

It's perfectly understandable why she might bite off more than she can chew, since she's only 11 and frequently too-curious. I like her quick wit, resourcefulness and gung-ho attitude. I also like the concept of unassuming-child-as-detective, she's someone who can wander about asking questions without raising suspicion.

Flavia is feisty, fevered and flawed and I'm thoroughly looking forward to her next adventure.

It was okay submitted by eringogreen on July 1, 2011, 9:13pm After reading Steig Larsson's Millenium Trilogy, I was hungry for another unique mystery series. I liked Flavia as a character and she was definitely interesting, charming and flawed. But I just had a hard time getting through this one. When I put it down, I wasn't thrilled to pick it back up again.

charming submitted by adimarzo on July 5, 2011, 12:32pm This is charning British mystery with a fun young heroine. The story moves along nicely, the characters are well developed and the book has an authentic feeling of time and place. I look forward to reading more about young Flavia.

Stamps! Murder! Chemistry experiments! submitted by marielle on July 6, 2013, 12:01am I loved this 11 year old budding chemist determined to solve the mystery of the murdered man found in her garden!

Very cute, very entertaining!

English Girl Saves the Day submitted by Jen Chapin-Smith on July 13, 2013, 11:28pm In this first of a series of mysteries for young readers, Bradley introduces us to Flavia de Luce, a young genius living with her father and two older sisters in the fictional English town of Bishop's Lacey in the 1950s. The girls' mother had died, leaving their father too sad to handle raising or even much educating his children, who are left to their own devices. Flavia has decided to teach herself chemistry and she particularly enjoys making poisons.
When she discovers a corpse in her garden, Flavia begins her career as a young detective. The police don't appreciate her meddling, but [SPOILER ALERT], she solves the crime in the end.
I very much appreciated having a young female character demonstrate so much intelligence and bravery, something I find lacking in many novels for children. Note, however, that as it is set in the 1950s, the Flavia series does demonstrate the prejudices of the era, including sexism and xenophobia.

Fun Historical Mystery submitted by sdunav on August 28, 2017, 12:03pm Really interesting mystery - especially when it comes to characters and setting (impoverished English upperclass family in the 1950's). Flavia, the 11 y.o. protagonist, starts out putting extract of poison ivy in her old sister's lipstick.

Bradley's got a way with words that kept me reading even when the plot didn't interest me too much. The book's like a weird combination of Sherlock Holmes, Harriet the Spy, and something much more graphic than either of those two. Definitely recommended for mystery lovers.

Disappointed submitted by Mtadams on July 13, 2023, 7:14am Perhaps because I listened to the audio book I missed what makes such a well liked book, but it fell flat for me.

Delightful Series! submitted by Cloverdale on August 3, 2023, 8:22am I love the precocious Flavia de Luce! Bradley creates a rich & witty post-WWII rural England with eleven year old Flavia at the the helm of solving local mysteries. This is book one in a series.