I Got It At The Library: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Sweetness at The Bottom Of The Pie 

by Alan Bradley

I chose this book because of the cover.  It looked like an older book from the sixties.  It was in a Staff Picks section in my local library and I usually trust their picks.  Although someone did put Twilight in there.  I suspect it was the new girl.  She'll learn.  I hope.

I was not dissappointed one bit by this book.  The book is set in 1950 and centers around eleven year old Flavia de Luce.  She lives in a big old English manor with her father and two sisters.  After overhearing an argument in the study late at night between her father and a stranger, in the moring she discovers a man in the garden who dies shortly after breathing out his final word.  

Flavia sets out to find out if this was the same man in the study.  She finds herself digging deeper into royal theft, the stamp collecting world and a death at her father's school.  She uses her intense interest in chemistry, especially poisons, to finally solve this mystery that happened at her doorstep.  Oh, and she mixes poison ivy in her sister's lipstick.  

I loved this book.  It was refreshing to have a young heroine who doesn't care about boys and is smart and into science.  It's a fun read and there are enough twists to keep it interesting.   The ending was not a disappointment.  It wasn't obvious and it didn't fizzle out as some mysteries are wont to do.  Flavia is a believable character and I loved that she was just a bit sinister herself.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a fast, challenging read.  I had to pick up the dictionary a few times and the story is not dumbed down.  I would say it's best for anyone over the age of ten, especially if you have a geeky teenage daughter.  

It is another great beach read but I personally think it's best for those nights when a summer thunderstorm pops up.  Go to the library and check it out.