Book Review: The Sweetness at the Bottom of a Pie

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My friend Steph recommended to me The Sweetness at the Bottom of a Pie: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley. I am glad I took her advice! I grew up reading Alfred Hitchcock, Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I loved mysteries!

This book is the first in a series of books by Alan Bradley. The series focuses on Flavia de Luce, an eleven year old girl with a love of chemistry and poisons. She is growing up in 1950's England with her two sisters and her father in a grand old mansion.  Flavia spends much of her time in her laboratory, in which I took tremendous delight, as I used to have my own chemistry set and microscope set growing up (best gift ever from Santa). I absolutely LOVED science. It fascinated me. Now that I work as a "scientist," in addition to Flavia's intelligence, I realize how little I know about chemistry (and science in general). I'm looking for some good courses to take for professional development now...just so Flavia can't always out-smart me (haha). The point is, I related to Flavia (I was just less smart growing up).

In Flavia's first novel, she goes on a journey to find out more about the stranger who has died in the cucumber patch. The mystery is centered around a story about a sheet of orange printed Penny Black stamps, the death of a professor from years ago, and the victim in Flavia's garden. As another side note, I used to collect stamps growing up, so I found that part of the story very interesting too.

At first, Flavia's know-it-all attitude and mean-little-sister-act bothered me, but she quickly grew on me with her childish innocence and love of chemistry. I didn't have to worry about Flavia having random sex with a detective or anyone else. Her family has difficulty in expressing their love for each other, which saddens me a little, but it helps build the characters.

I was surprised to find that the author Alan Bradley is a 70's-year-old man who spent his career in film. I had the image of a retired chemistry professor writing this story. In any case, he did a wonderful job! I am looking forward to reading the other Flavia de Luce novels. If you decide to read this book, then don't skip over the Acknowledgements or the interview at the end! You'll learn a little more about Mr. Bradley.

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