“I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”–Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
This is the debut novel of author Alan Bradley. He was 71 years old when the book was published and he won multiple awards for the book. I love that he followed his dream of writing and didn’t let age deter him. He has gone on to write an additional ten books in the Flavia de Luce series, so if the intrepid Flavia wins you over, you can follow her exploits in several more books!
Flavia de Luce is an 11 year old genius with a penchant for chemistry and poison. It is the summer of 1950 and she lives with her father and two sisters at Buckshaw, the once grand family mansion that has seen better days. Flavia is often bored, but when two strange events occur within hours of one another, she is intrigued. First, a dead bird is found on the door step with a postage stamp pinned to its beak. Second, Flavia finds a man in the cucumber patch and watches him take his last breaths. Flavia is disturbed and delighted by the events and feels it is the most excitement she has ever experienced.
Before long, however, her father is arrested for murder and it is up to Flavia to find the real killer, using her scientific skills. She visits her father in prison where he tells a story from thirty earlier of a friendship gone bad, a brazen theft of a valuable object, and the suicide of a Latin teacher. With this information, Flavia pieces together the connection between two deaths decades apart, finds new suspects, and begins an investigation that will take her all the way to the King of England.
Flavia is not your typical eleven year old and she makes a wonderful protagonist. She is brilliant, funny, incorrigible, and the bane of her older sisters’ existence. She may become your new favorite sleuth.
Content Advisory: Murder, death of a parent, sexism, suicide