You probably haven't heard of this book, but it is one you should check out. I found it via Audible, and it made for a great listen during our bus trip back and forth from New Orleans.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the debut novel of Alan Bradley and is a murder mystery set in England in 1950, with an unlikely sleuth - 11 year-old Flavia de Luce. Flavia discovers a dead body in the cucumber patch of her family's crumbling mansion. When her father is accused of the murder, she is determined to find the real killer. She rides around town on her bike, Gladys, collecting clues about her father's former schoolmates, a mysterious suicide, and a collection of rare stamps, which ultimately leads her to the killer.
It is hard not to like Flavia, who is 11 going on 40. She is delightfully nerdy, with pigtail braids, glasses, and a face full of braces. Not to mention that she loves chemistry, has a fully functional lab in her house, and "has a penchant for poisons." One of the best scenes in the book is when she injects poison ivy into her older sister's lipstick to get her back for locking her in a closet. Awesome.
The book is the first in a series of Flavia de Luce mysteries. I look forward to checking out book #2: The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag and the rest of the Flavia mysteries.
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