The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1) in Bound Together

Mar 13, 2014 Pat rated it it was amazing

How did I miss this delightful novel when it was published 3 or 4 years ago? I can't wait for our Athen's Book Review to discuss it tomorrow! Flavia is a wonderful character, and there isn's a dull moment in all of the 300+ pages! Usually in a mystery there is a bit of a lull where you can skim for a few pages, not in this book! It is delightfully fast moving because she is a child and you know how they move! So, so, so FUN to read a mystery without profanity, overt sexual scenes, and excellent ...more

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Oct 02, 2012 ☮Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

What a fun read; what an absolutely precocious little 11 year-old genius is Flavia de Luce. She wakes up one morning and discovers a dead body in amongst the cukes, and from that point her every waking moment is spent trying to get to the bottom of this murder. It was hysterical how she figured out things way before the police, or anyone else. She describes her older sisters having any part in the murder:

“Don’t make me laugh! These two so absorbed in book and looking-glass that they wouldn’t ki ...more

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Dec 17, 2009 Laurel Bradshaw rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1st-of-series, england, ebooks-owned, cozy-mystery, 1950s, audiobook, kobo, 2022-random-lists

Reread (on audiobook) April 16, 2013. I still think this is a wonderful book and a delightful character! I listened to this to refresh my memory prior to reading the sequel(s). I'm quite sure this is one of those series I'll be revisiting often in future years. The audio version is narrated by Jayne Entwhistle and I thought her voice was perfect for this.

Original review: Read January 18, 2010
What a delightful book! It's a sort of English cozy, full of historical details, with an outrageous child Reread (on audiobook) April 16, 2013. I still think this is a wonderful book and a delightful character! I listened to this to refresh my memory prior to reading the sequel(s). I'm quite sure this is one of those series I'll be revisiting often in future years. The audio version is narrated by Jayne Entwhistle and I thought her voice was perfect for this.

Original review: Read January 18, 2010
What a delightful book! It's a sort of English cozy, full of historical details, with an outrageous child protagonist, who is sometimes scary with her single-minded intensity. She is at once both precocious and naive, delightful and alarming, and utterly fearless. The cast of characters with their charming eccentricities rivals Alexander McCall-Smith as does the laugh-out-loud humor. I sincerely hope this will be made into a movie, and I have already put my name on the waiting list for book # 2, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, coming out in March. While written for adults, precocious older children and young adults would also find this enjoyable.

Book description from Amazon:
"In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950 - and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia’s family calls home. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “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.”

To Flavia the investigation is the stuff of science: full of possibilities, contradictions, and connections. Soon her father, a man raising his three daughters alone, is seized, accused of murder. And in a police cell, during a violent thunderstorm, Colonel de Luce tells his daughter an astounding story — of a schoolboy friendship turned ugly, of a priceless object that vanished in a bizarre and brazen act of thievery, of a Latin teacher who flung himself to his death from the school’s tower thirty years before. Now Flavia is armed with more than enough knowledge to tie two distant deaths together, to examine new suspects, and begin a search that will lead her all the way to the King of England himself. Of this much the girl is sure: her father is innocent of murder — but protecting her and her sisters from something even worse….

An enthralling mystery, a piercing depiction of class and society, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a masterfully told tale of deceptions — and a rich literary delight."

Series info:
Flavia de Luce series
01. The sweetness at the bottom of the pie - read Jan. 2010
02. The weed that strings the hangman's bag - read June 2013
03. A red herring without mustard - read Aug. 2013
04. I am half sick of shadows - read Jan. 2014
-------------------------------------
05. Speaking from among the bones
06. The dead in their vaulted arches
06.5 The curious case of the copper corpse (ebook)
07. As chimney sweepers come to dust ...more

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Feb 17, 2010 Shirley J rated it liked it

I finished this book on the heals of M. C. Beaton's "A Highland Christmas," which was my first soft-boiled mystery. It is interesting that Mr. Bradley's book deal to write a series about Flavia was sold after reading only the first 15 pages, all that was written at the time.

Bradley had never visited England, yet the language and detail fit the setting. There were many times reading this book, that I wondered why it was considered adult fiction vs. young adult. Probably because my son is taking ...more

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Jun 11, 2010 Ellen Librarian rated it liked it

I found this a fun, easy read. I thought the mystery part was pretty stupid but I got quite a kick out of the 11 year-old sleuth, Flavia. Also, I loved the librarian. I'm a sucker for any book with a sympathetic librarian.:) I can't help but feel that she'll be a co-sleuth in future books. ...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Karen rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-books, 2013

Spunky little miss, isn't she??? Flavia is the heart if this book..an 11 yr old obsessed with being right, knowledge, poison and chemistry..with two older sister to torture and the run of her 1950's English town. Much much better as an audio than a written book! Glad I gave it a second chance. ...more

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Apr 10, 2009 Carolyn rated it liked it

Shelves: strong-female-lead-character, mystery, 2010-read, historical-fiction

What a precocious narrator! I really enjoyed the evocative language and classical references. If you've ever read & enjoyed the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King, you'll enjoy this one as well. Picked up a bunch of interesting chemistry tips as well, things I haven't thought of since 11th grade chemistry, a good many years ago. = )
Only 3 stars because I thought the mystery was a bit easily solved, but loved the introduction and sidebars into several memorable characters. I will definitely be ...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Sara rated it really liked it

It's a little hokey that she's 11, knows chemistry and anatomy by heart, yet doesn't know how to "kick him in the cassanovas"??? Come on! ...more

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Jun 16, 2014 Angie crosby rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, checkedout-library

I really enjoyed this book. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I like it. The only issue was that it wasn't entirely believable the an 11 year old would or could do all that. ...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Brenda rated it really liked it

I loved this book. What a refreshing and delightful protagonist, Flavia de Luce is clever, witty, intelligent and one hundred percent believable. This book will amuse and hold your interest throughout the entire book.

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