The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie [Audio Download]

I am delighted to say that I found this book to be totally captivating and charming in every aspect. I certainly was not in the slightest put off by the odd American expression but was thoroughly engrossed and mesmerised by the utterly precocious and wonderful heroine 'Flavia de Luce '. A murder mystery set in 1950s rural England and an 11 year old sleuth who also happens to be a chemistry whizz and the kind of girl you would not want to make an enemy of. Refreshingly original, with a host of colourful characters and an ingenious plot involving valuable postage stamps, theft and murder.........and a bicycle named Gladys. This is in my opinion going to be one very sought after book and a series that will (if the first book is anything to go by) develop a cult following among kids and adults alike....bring on the next book and a movie please

While I didn't dislike this book, it wasn't anywhere near as good as I had hoped from reading other reviews. Flavia de Luce was an interesting character: both pretentious and obnoxious, at times she was a thoroughly enjoyable figure and at others she was irritating beyond belief. However, having a mystery novel narrated by someone supposedly possessed of such staggering genius presents an obvious problem. If Flavia is clever enough to work everything out on the spot, then where is the suspense and mystery? Answer: in fairly short supply. If, as is the case of several occasions (presumably so that the author can write a 350 page mystery novel rather than a 10 page police report) Flavia misses or fails to understand a clue which the reader gets, then her intelligence is thrown into question and her characterisation seems inconsistent. I don't think that Bradley has quite worked out how to balance out those two problems yet.

The narrative style was all too bright, brittle and jolly hockeysticks for my liking, as though it was mimicking Enid Blyton, and while I enjoyed that particular tone as a child devouring `Famous Five' books I found it rather wearing and condescending as an adult reader. The book is so self-consciously English that I wasn't surprised to read in the interesting `Notes for Book Clubs' section which followed the main text that the author had never actually been to England until after the book was written. He presents an idea of the time and the place rather than the setting itself, and although I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy -- particularly in non-historical novels -- it just feels a bit forced. Nonetheless, I appreciated the book for what it was and still found it to be an enjoyable cosy mystery.

I'm always on the lookout for mysteries featuring unusual protagonists, and the 11-year-old girl genius at the heart of this book certainly fits that description. Flavia de Luce lives in a ramshackle English country manor house sometime around 1950, with her withdrawn and distant war hero father, and her two incredibly annoying older sisters (the mother died years ago). One morning a dead bird is left on the doorstep with a mysterious postage stamp on its beak, and soon thereafter a body is found in the cucumber patch! It's pretty clear we're in a classic British village cozy mystery.

The story capitalizes on the cliche that, like elderly ladies (I'm looking at you Ms. Marple), no one really notices children or pays too much attention to their nosiness. So, Flavia is free to race around on her trusty bike, digging into newspaper archives, talking to old-timers, and poking through the belongings of a lodger at the village pub. It's not mere preciousness (although there is an excess of this) that drives her -- the police have arrested her father, and believe him to be guilty of killing the person in the cucumber patch.

The whys are wherefores revolve around stamp collecting and a dark event from her father's schoolboy days at the local prep school. Unfortunately, it's the kind of mystery where as each element was revealed, I found myself less and less on board with the whole story. Part of the problem is that it becomes all too obvious who the true killer is and why. I'm not the kind of person who tries to solve a mystery while reading, but it's pretty hard not to do so here. Another large problem is the character of Flavia herself: she's just far too precocious, plucky, and bright for her age. Her personality wears pretty thin, and I found myself less and less interested in spending time with her as the book rolled on.

All that said, I can see how she might develop into a richer character, as the author finds a more nuanced voice for her. There are some nice good scenes of genuine peril, and if he can come up with some more perplexing intrigues for her, Flavia might be a character to get to know as she grows older.