The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1)

Why can’t Amazon post a simple list of an author’s titles in order of publication? If you discover an author, you might like to read them in the order they were written, to appreciate the characters’ (and the author’s) development. Here’s the list of Alan Bradley’s charming, scary, funny Flavia de Luce Novels, as of December 2014.

Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce novels in order:
1. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, 1/2010
2. The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, 2/2011
3. A Red Herring Without Mustard, 10/2011
4. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, 10/2012
5. Speaking from Among the Bones, 12/2013
6. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, 1/2014
7. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, 1/2015
Enjoy!

Flavia de Luce goes outside early one morning only to find a stranger breathing his last words in their cucumbers. Normal 11 year old girls would have screamed and fled the scene, but Flavia is 100% intrigued and when her father is arrested for the crime, is soon trying to untangle the knots surrounding the stranger, a rare stamp, her father’s old schoolmaster, and the dead man in the garden.

I’ve been missing out! I should have discovered this series ages ago. Oh well, I shall work on remedying that and catching up on the rest of the Flavia books pronto because Flavia is one plucky, precocious girl with just the right touch of crazy misfit. In her case, the misfit comes in the form of not really connecting with her older sisters and of having a better understanding of Chemistry than most college graduates; the crazy comes in a penchant for poisons. Though this series is relatively new, it has all the feel of an old classic by Sayles or Christie. I liked the 1950 England setting, as most mysteries either hit right during WWII or earlier, and it’s nice to see a different era. And the mystery itself was written very well. I fully expected it to be about to wrap up when I was less than halfway through, but then it got deeper and more complex, and it definitely kept me guessing (though I did figure out who done it before Flavia). I’ll definitely be reading the rest of this series.

Notes on content: A handful of minor swear words and about 5 strong British swear words. No sex scenes. A maid talks about a man grabbing her from behind and it is hinted he does more, but she is talking to Flavia so that’s all that is explained. Two deaths are described, one is not bloody at all, the other is but the injuries are not described at all. Violence is threatened at one point, but not carried out.

Alan Bradley’s writing is a delight. Every sentence rings with descriptive and humorous wit. The narrator, Flavia de Luce is a highly precocious, curious, and extremely bratty eleven year old chemist, with a fascination for poisons. Her two older sisters torture, torment and insult her, but she is their equal in family battles. I loved reading this, the first in this heroine’s series of murder mysteries (must I mention that she’s an observant sleuth, whose sense of hearing and smell lend a richness to her skills of deduction?) so much that I raced into the next book in the series, and the next, and the next, and the next. To paraphrase a snack commercial of old, “Bet you can’t read just one!”

I listened to this almost wholly on audiobook which was a huge credit to the book since the narrator was absolutely excellent on Audibles. As far as the book itself is concerned, this was a very alliteratively, lyrically written novel at times, which was lovely though strange considering the plot and storyline. I will say that the heavy portions of chemistry-laden poetic waxings were horribly boring and painful for me since I loathed Chemistry, personally. It did accomplish its intended purpose though I believe, by making Flavia seem even more in love with her passion for Chem without us just being told constantly. Her imagination and lively personality definitely shined through in the writing as well.

Solidly written, just sometimes really difficult to stay engaged due to the constant heavy language — whether it be period specific, lyrical descriptions, Chemistry romance or just ultra-detailed detective thoughts. I found myself often checking out and confirming that I’d never have read this novel to its end had I not elected to listen to this on audiobook instead on account of the sometimes tiresome and oddly flavorless bits.

This was a strange novel for me.

Within a few pages, the phoniness of the backdrop, supposedly 1950s England, had me googling the author as I was convinced he is an American who has never visited the UK. He is actually Canadian, but the point still stands.
The central character is a lying, manipulative, irritating 11 year old of the sort gullible adults seem to find cute but that kids in the same age group try to avoid. The other characters are either just preposterous or completely cardboard.
The plot, such as it is, meanders at the pace of an arthritic snail. The police seem beyond incompetent.
I am just over halfway through and have given this book 2 stars as the prose is well-written, if long-winded, and I can see it will appeal to readers who enjoy literature as opposed to fiction. However, I certainly wont be reading any more in the series. It is becoming doubtful that I will actually manage to finish this one.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member