Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

By Alan Bradley

This is a Flavia de Luce Mystery.

I love it!  Flavia is an eleven year old chemistry wiz with a taste for poison.
Of course, she lives in a mansion in England, so we know I'm hooked right there.  

This delightful little surprise of a mystery had my attention from the first sentence.  Flavia lives with her stiff upper lipped father and two elder sisters whom continually ridicule her.  She exacts her revenge with  methodical plots she concocts in her laboratory. A stranger is found dead in the cucumber patch and our heroine takes it upon herself to find out who done it, secretly fearing it was her beloved Dad.  Full of adventure, suspense and literary references, it's one of the best reads I've come across this year. 

I'm just tickled pink by it and am on to the next in the series, The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag.

More Flavia, please!