The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Category: Historical, Cozy Mystery
Published: 2009, 374 pgs.
Review: 4.5/5 stars

I picked this book up by chance at the library because I thought I had seen that one of my friends on Goodreads had read it and it had also won some kind of award. What a delightful surprise it was. It's 1950 and Flavia de Luce is an 11 year old who lives with her two older sisters and her father on a large but run-down estate in England. Flavia is such a fun character. She has an unusual obsession with chemistry and in particular, poisons. Even though this is not a highly suspenseful mystery and it took a little while to get going, I still loved it. Flavia is a quirky and hilarious amateur sleuth. I was so excited to discover at the end of the book that the author is writing a series of Flavia mysteries. I highly recommend this book to cozy mystery lovers.

Here are a couple of quotes that show Flavia's personality:

"As I stood outside in Cow Lane, it occurred to me that Heaven must be a place where the library is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. No ... eight days a week."

"Anyone who knew the word slattern was worth cultivating as a friend."

"It is not unknown for fathers with a brace of daughters to reel off their names in order of birth when summoning the youngest, and I had long ago become accustomed to being called 'Ophelia Daphne Flavia, d*** it."

Rating: 1.2.2 Content includes a little violence since this is a murder mystery and some barnyard swear words. (A friend of mine used that term "barnyard language" recently. I think it's a great description and will be using it in the future. Thanks Julie C.)