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

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1)

by Alan Bradley (Goodreads Author)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 50,449 ratings · 8,325 reviews

Flavia de Luce 11 is an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. In the summer of 1950, a series of inexplicable events strikes her home, Buckshaw, a decaying English mansion. 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 Fl...more

Hardcover, 374 pages

Published April 28th 2009 by Delacorte Press (first published January 1st 2009)

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Sep 05, 2008 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book will not be published in the US until mid-2009.

I absolutely loved Sweetness. The narrator-protagonist is one of the cleverest, liveliest, most entertaining characters I have had the pleasure to meet in many a year. I laughed aloud many times and couldn't wait to get back to reading this gem. Flavia is the 11-year-old daughter of a widower in England in the 50s. She loves science and mystery, despises her haughty clueless sisters, and is plotting to poison them and get away with it. Whe...more

38 likes · like · see review

Aug 16, 2010 Hannah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Hannah by: Tatiana G.

Shelves: 2010-reads, mysteries

I really wanted to like this more then I ended up doing. The story started off slowly, then picked up steam with a murder to solve and some interesting backstory on stamps. What hindered my enjoyment of the book, the story and the murder mystery was, unfortunately, the main character and detective: Flavia duLuce.

To say that young Flavia is precocious is an understatement. She has to be one of the most intelligent, well spoken, criminal minds since Sherlock Holmes. Problem is, she's only 11 years...more

37 likes · like · see review

Dec 02, 2009 Felicia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: faves, mystery

This book probably deserves 4 stars, but to me, as far as how much I enjoyed it, 5 stars baby!

Having just read Steig Larssen's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" I hadn't expected to stumble on a heroine as quickly that I'd love as much. But Flavia fits the bill!

This is a historical mystery, set in England in the late 40's/ (51 maybe?) Anyway, Flavia is 11 going on 40. She's a genius, perhaps a mad one, who knows. She is drawn into a wonderful mystery that I don't want to spoil, but her tenacity and...more

59 likes · like · see review

Mar 18, 2009 Trin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian-lit, mystery, historicalfiction

A historical mystery, set in England, narrated by a precocious 11-year-old girl. I feel like I should have loved this, but mostly it just bored me. Flavia’s narration, designed to show off how brilliant she is, lacked the necessary wit and charm, and her investigation into a couple of murders and some missing stamps was full of weird leaps of logic and sideways-step conclusions. I never felt involved or like any part of the story was real or mattered.

37 likes · like · see review

Jun 15, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of non-violent mysteries

Shelves: ala-ya-2010, 2010, mysteries-thrillers-horror

Flavia de Luce is an 11-year old amateur sleuth, a future chemist and poison enthusiast. She lives with her widowed father and two older sisters at Buckshaw - a decaying English country-side mansion. Flavia's days are occupied with chemical experiments and schemes of spiking her evil older sister Ophelia's lipstick with poison ivy. That is until one fateful day a dead bird with a postage stamp stuck to its beak is found on the doorstep of Buckshaw. Even more, soon after Flavia finds a dead man i...more

50 likes · like · see review

Mar 15, 2009 Brenda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Clever plot, unusual subject (stamp collecting), interesting setting and time, and amusing characters flesh out this funny little mystery. Flavia is a smart and snarky little detective whose passion is poison. I look forward to more Flavia.

11 likes · like · see review

Apr 19, 2010 Lisa Vegan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: readers who enjoy quirky and unusual mysteries

Shelves: fiction, orphaned-and-quasi-orphaned-kids, novel, mystery, reviewed, gr-author, historical-fiction, altta, humor

Delightful!

I loved this quirky book.

The amateur sleuth and chemistry enthusiast Flavia de Luce is a very unusual 11 year old, but I’ve known many 11 year olds unusual in their own ways, so Flavia worked for me just fine. She’s completely over the top, yet somehow believable, at least within the narrative. She’s a fabulous character and a brilliant creation.

I smiled several times on almost every page, especially in the first part of the book. As with many mysteries, there was some quite scary (f...more

21 likes · like · see review

Mar 01, 2010 Misty rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, excited-for, international-multicultural, horror-mystery-suspense-thriller, read-in-2010, quirky, cover-appeal

Flavia de Luce is not your average eleven year old. She lives in a decaying mansion. She has a passion for chemistry, especially poisons. And when she finds a man dying in her cucumber patch, it doesn't occur to her to be worried or scared. Instead, Flavia senses something delicious may come of it: adventure.
Thus Flavia sets out to find out just who the man is, and how he came to be dying in her cucumber patch. But what starts off as a fun, mysterious way to spend the summer of 1950 turns into s...more Flavia de Luce is not your average eleven year old. She lives in a decaying mansion. She has a passion for chemistry, especially poisons. And when she finds a man dying in her cucumber patch, it doesn't occur to her to be worried or scared. Instead, Flavia senses something delicious may come of it: adventure.
Thus Flavia sets out to find out just who the man is, and how he came to be dying in her cucumber patch. But what starts off as a fun, mysterious way to spend the summer of 1950 turns into something much more when Flavia's father is arrested for the crime -- and she must prove his innocence before it's too late.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is slightly out of the norm for me in that I tend to avoid mysteries. I figure them out too soon, so they bore me and come off as cheesy. But I'd heard good things about this one, I was completely caught by the title and, yes, the cover (you know me), and precocious Flavia sounded interesting. So not only did I decide to give it a try, but I even went ahead and bought it. I do not regret this impetuous decision.

Flavia is delightful in her little-genius antics, and though her precociousness is occasionally somewhat irritating (as with all precociousness), she remains consistently entertaining. She's bold and bright and adventurous, and like many a genius, slightly off. She occasionally reminded me of Merricat Blackwood from We Have Always Lived in the Castle, whom, if you remember, I found captivating, even if she was a loon. Flavia isn't a loon, but her obsession with poisons does make her narration slightly suspect on occasion, which adds an interesting element.

The tone throughout the book is fun and intriguing. It's like some weird love-child of We Have Always Lived in the Castle + nostalgic/atmospheric/eccentric/British coming of age lit (think I Capture the Castle) + a cozy mystery. That's some parentage, and it makes for interesting offspring. The characters are fun and quirky, and this extends beyond Flavia, though she certainly takes the cake in this regard.

And even for me, who always figures things out and then gets disgusted -- even for me the mystery was fun. It's the sort that, even if you figure it out, there's still enough suspense, still enough tension, still enough interest to keep me going. You want to know how it's going to work out; more specifically, you want to know how Flavia's going to wriggle out of this one and come out on top, because she's that type of character; you just know she will.

I think, whether you like mysteries or you typically avoid them like me, you'll like Sweetness, and you'll intend to continue on with the series, The Buckshaw Chronicles -- you just have to know what Flavia's going to get herself into next!

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15 likes · like · see review

Feb 09, 2010 Sparrow rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sparrow by: tracey coleman and Linda Harrison

Shelves: reviewed

This book is CSI to The Series of Unfortunate Events' McGyver. In my scale, a three-star rating is neutral, and that's a pretty accurate evaluation of how I feel about this story. At the risk of sounding disapproving, I'm going to make a couple of notes about why I didn't love the book. They're not things I really disliked about the book, though, just to be clear. I'm also really terrible about reading mystery stories, so, I’m disqualifying myself from evaluation. These are my general reactions,...more

30 likes · like · see review

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Silvio111 Gosh, Sparrow, this author really bugs you, doesn't he? I had no idea there were so many traps involved in reading this book! I have to say that none...more
Nov 25, 2012 05:28am

Sparrow haha, good! No, he doesn't bug me that much - only three stars worth. There are just so many three star books where the reason they are three stars is...more
Nov 25, 2012 06:30am

Aug 01, 2011 Nadia rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Finally! I'm done! The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie has been read and crossed off of my TBR list. And now I must ask you not to hate me, because truthfully, though I did enjoy aspects of the book, I did not love it. I found it to be rather predictable, long-winded and slightly dull at times. There were moments when I had to put the book down or just rush ahead in order to avoid a passage that went on about something or other that just didn't hold my interest. I can understand why this book...more Finally! I'm done! The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie has been read and crossed off of my TBR list. And now I must ask you not to hate me, because truthfully, though I did enjoy aspects of the book, I did not love it. I found it to be rather predictable, long-winded and slightly dull at times. There were moments when I had to put the book down or just rush ahead in order to avoid a passage that went on about something or other that just didn't hold my interest. I can understand why this book would be a bestseller and how so many people fell under its spell, but I just wasn't one of those people. Don't get me wrong, Flavia de Luce is ace. I loved her character's carefree spirit; her love of chemistry and potions; her experiments on her rotten sisters; and her faithful bike Gladys. What I didn't care for was everything else.

It is the summer of 1950 - and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his last 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."

From that summary (found on back of book) alone, I was positive that I was in for a treat. But I wasn't. I just don't think that the book was my cup of tea. Perhaps if I was a kid reading about Flavia, I would have enjoyed the book more. The sneaking out of the house, magic tricks, and intriguing mystery behind the stamp pinned to the bird's beak - all of these things would have caught my attention once upon a time. However, in the now, I just wasn't as enthralled by it all as I had hoped. Oh well, different strokes for different folks - in this case, books. (less)

20 likes · like · see review

Apr 16, 2010 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Bettie by: Xmas pressie from Mikael 2009

Shelves: spring-2010, published-2009, young-adult, poison, sciences, mystery-thriller, historical-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 04, 2011 Janina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller-suspense, i-love-science, read-in-2011, historic-fiction, given-away, series-in-progress

A wonderfully nostalgic mystery featuring a likable if slightly odd heroine set in a small and charming English village in the 1950s. If you like Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, don’t mind a chemistry-obsessed main character sounding a little too old for her eleven years and want to solve a crime alongside her, I think this is for you. The mystery isn’t too hard to unravel, but the story behind it is interesting and I enjoyed putting the pieces of the puzzle together myself. Additionally, F...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 29, 2009 Margaret rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borders-original-voices, thriller-mystery-suspense

Boy, I really wanted to like this book more - it has such promise! A brainy 11 year old sleuth(ess) who's into poisons and chemistry, plus the book starts out with her escaping from being tied up and thrown into a closet of her huge, stately English house - all very promising. I thought at first I was getting a 1950's British "Wednesday" (Addams). But things don't turn out that way. Flavia de Luce, the precocious main character (the book is told first person), just didn't ring consistently true...more

8 likes · like · see review

Apr 21, 2010 Meagan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: never-finished

I'm not usually one for mysteries because they're so much about the plot and not so much about the character, so it takes a good one to keep me interested.

Unfortunatley, this one did not. I found it terribly dry and borderline nodded off at several points. I guess I was hoping for more of a 'Mysterious case of the dog in the nighttime'. Instead it just seemed to almost trudge along at an alarmingly tottering pace.

I did find the main character, Flavia, fairly charming and I think if she were wri...more

15 likes · like · see review

Jan 04, 2011 Heather (DeathByBook) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-winter-2010-2011, england, historical, mystery

This is a new favorite! I read it in two sittings and am ready to start agiain. Flavia de Luce is one of my top new detectives. I only wish I could have her over for tea to discuss the difficulty of living with older sisters and perhaps, poisons. I'm sure it has been said by many and I agree, that this book is an absolute delight.

11 likes · like · see review

Sep 27, 2012 Susanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: mystery fans

Recommended to Susanna by: my mother

Shelves: historical-fiction, historical-mystery, mystery, book-club

What a fun read!

Reminds me, in some ways, of Mistress Masham's Repose, by T.H. White. If the latter were a murder mystery.

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 08, 2012 Harini rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own, detective-mystery, love-them, good

Flavia de Luce is an 11 year old girl with a passion for chemistry, especially poisons. She spends most of her days locked up in her lab trying to come up with ways to get back at her two older sisters Ophelia and Daffy, with things like poisoning their lipstick with poison ivy.

One fateful day when Flavia finds a dead body in there cucumber path, instead of being scared or worried, Flavia is excited about the adventure that will unfold. But when her father gets arrested for the murder, the situa...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 19, 2010 Kasia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I cant' believe this is the author's first work, in short it's really amazing, I mean a gloriously adorable kaleidoscope of words and textures and emotions, pure bliss to read! Set in 1950's England, the mystery has a rustic feel to it but is very easy to read and enjoy. It's not often that the protagonist is an eleven year old little girl, who's as feisty and cunning as it gets. Flava de Luce has a love affair with chemistry. Glass flasks and potions are more fun than hanging out and doing kid...more I cant' believe this is the author's first work, in short it's really amazing, I mean a gloriously adorable kaleidoscope of words and textures and emotions, pure bliss to read! Set in 1950's England, the mystery has a rustic feel to it but is very easy to read and enjoy. It's not often that the protagonist is an eleven year old little girl, who's as feisty and cunning as it gets. Flava de Luce has a love affair with chemistry. Glass flasks and potions are more fun than hanging out and doing kid stuff so when a murder takes place in her very own garden she's not scared, instead she challenges the world to stop her from solving it, and most important from trying to find her sweet old dad guilty. Sprinkled with clues and obstacles the story is a must read for anyone who likes something a little different and it's delicious to curl up with on a cold and dreary night.

Flavia compares chemistry to witchcraft, there's something very organic and cozy about the building elements of life and how they surround us in all forms. She is a wiz at tricking her sisters and playing games on them. What kid would melt her sister's lipstick and melt it back into shape using a .45 caliber slug mold with an interesting addition mixed in, one that would teach her sister respect for the quirky youngster. Even though their mom has passed away, her spirit lives on in all the precious things she left her name on all around the house. The tale is a mystery with some really special characterization and lot's of heart, I think the author has really left his mark on the world with this novel. The mystery wasn't the hardest thing to solve, I mean it wasn't as complex as an Agatha Christie one but still a fun to read, and Flavia's brave escapades were a joy to read. At one point in the story the author lets us know that Flavia started her love for chemistry with one book that fell on her head, well I had one of those books too as a kid, I was obsessed with it, I was never as good as her at it but I know what it feels like to be spellbound by a whole new philosophy and world of unknown wonders. (less)

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Dec 04, 2010 Nancy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-or-something-akin-to-it

A mystery about a precocious child, whom I would like to like, but suspect that she would not be enjoyable to be around. Flavia, when not tormenting her eldest sister, attempts to solve a murder in 1950 in Great Britain. I wanted to like this book, as much as the title appealed to me, but only finished out of a sense of duty, having bought the book based on the reviews rather than borrowing it. A good lesson, to remind me of the perils of random purchasing.

My quibbles, if anyone is so interested...more A mystery about a precocious child, whom I would like to like, but suspect that she would not be enjoyable to be around. Flavia, when not tormenting her eldest sister, attempts to solve a murder in 1950 in Great Britain. I wanted to like this book, as much as the title appealed to me, but only finished out of a sense of duty, having bought the book based on the reviews rather than borrowing it. A good lesson, to remind me of the perils of random purchasing.

My quibbles, if anyone is so interested:
1) Eleven? Really? Hard to bite on that premise, as her being little older would have been less of a strain on the imagination, not a lot, but it would have helped.

2) Perhaps the first person narrative added to the believability challenge; her descriptions/observations were not in keeping with her age or experience (e.g. in Ch. 5 " Now, a quarter century after the last Lagonda had rolled out of its doors, the building had fallen, like old crockery in the servant's quarters, into a kind of chipped and broken decrepitude." Or this little beauty from Ch.12 " ... as if some sour old chamberlain were looking on dyspeptically as his mistress unfurled silk stockings over her long, youthful legs.") I had no problems with the observations themselves, just that their source was an eleven-year-old, genius or not. A third person narrative might have been less jarring, though still rather over-written (if not purple prose then at least mauve).

3) Perhaps her knowledge of so many topics, not just having taught herself chemistry, but books, movies and music was just a little too much to swallow. Specific references include: "The Third Man" 1949, "Cinderella" 1950 (if it played in GB as it was only in limited release in the US in 1950 - although perhaps besides the gramophone she also had a record player and a copy of the one of the 1949 78-rpm recordings),"We Dive at Dawn 1943", "Modern Times" 1936 (the last Little Tramp film), "A Matter of Life and Death" 1946; various titled classical music pieces with some rather strong opinions and composer preferences. And apparently she also was conversant with her history and Olivier, picturing him as Henry II, in a quote which sounds Shakespearean, but isn't. Also Poe, du Maurier, Stephen Leacock, Gilbert and Sullivan, netsuke, lock-picking and the prison system (Wormwood Scrubs). Quite impressive, since in 1950 she wasn't attending school; good thing she was self motivated.

Maybe the author was trying to anchor the book into the time and place, but the references had the opposite effect of reassuring me, drawing my attention and distracting me from the story itself (as should be obvious by the fact I looked up some of the info stated above).

Since this is the author's first book, I might be inclined to borrow the second book and see if there are any stylistic improvements, but suspect that, with all the accolades for book one, there would be little incentive to do so.

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Nancy Let's chalk this up to the perils of discussion via email. :-)

I get the "thesis" you are presenting and I, too, like a good discussion on the merits...more
updated Oct 05, 2012 10:16am

Ricki Oh certainly, I agree that everyone has different things they love about books, and we shouldn't hope that everyone feels the same way as we do. (That...more
Oct 05, 2012 10:46am

Jul 12, 2009 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, 2009, detective, review

Full review on my blog.
This is a pleasing little murder mystery by Alan Bradbury set in rural England during the early 1950s. You've got to love Flavia de Luce. She is something akin to an 11 year old female Sherlock Holmes before he honed his deductive skills. She's brilliant but still too full of her own cleverness to spot enough of her mistakes early enough to stay out of trouble. Her head is also full of a riot of information, jostling for attention so much that the important clues sometimes...more

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Oct 08, 2009 Kathryn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

"There are times, Miss de Luce... when you deserve a brass medal. And there are other times when you deserve to be sent to your room with bread and water." -- Inspector Hewitt to Flavia de Luce: budding sleuth, brilliant chemist, and diabolical eleven-year-old.

After very high hopes, I almost gave up on "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" after about seven chapters, finding little literary sweetness to induce in me a hunger to devour the remaining pages. Yet, the overwhelmingly positive revi...more "There are times, Miss de Luce... when you deserve a brass medal. And there are other times when you deserve to be sent to your room with bread and water." -- Inspector Hewitt to Flavia de Luce: budding sleuth, brilliant chemist, and diabolical eleven-year-old.

After very high hopes, I almost gave up on "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" after about seven chapters, finding little literary sweetness to induce in me a hunger to devour the remaining pages. Yet, the overwhelmingly positive reviews of the book made me continue and I am glad I did, though I do not think my praise is quite so high as most readers' thus far.

The opening chapter grabbed me, and then I was rather bored for several chapters. I could not picture Flavia as an eleven-year-old, she just didn't really SEEM like one, even if this was 1950s England. I am still not sure or how much I cared what happened to her, yet the story was interesting enough. Aside from Dogger, I really didn't feel much empathy for any of the characters but they managed to make an amusing enough group, Mr. de Luce and his lack of emotion for anything but stamp collecting, Flavia's older sisters Daphne and Ophilia, one with a love of make-up and the other with a love of reading... Nothing too original here.

Flaiva herself is quite the character, and I feel the above quote and description sum her up well. While I admire her bravery and loyalty to her family in solving the crime, and her intelligence at solving it accurately, I really could not LIKE her. She is the sort of child one finds amusing enough in books, but would not wish to stand next to in line for a ride at Disneyland. Her intelligence sprawls out into dangerous territory, since her love of chemistry tends to making up toxic concoctions, and one of her experiments includes putting some nasty mixture on her sisters' lipstick and waiting to see the results. Oh, dear, sibling rivalry tossed with youthful genius!

The mystery was not all that astounding. I guessed most of it myself at one point or another and I just didn't care enough about the characters to be really riveted. Sometimes, Bradley's writing drug on a bit, or got a weighted down with analogy. Still, overall this was an enjoyable read and good for those who tend to enjoy cozy mysteries as there is very little gore or violence and it's pretty clear, based on the pending sequel, that Flavia will pull through!

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Feb 09, 2013 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, absolute-favourites

This is on my absolute favourites list and has 5 stars not because of the book itself. It is flawed. Enjoyable, but far from amazing. What is amazing, and what garners my devotion, is its main character, Flavia. FLAVIA GETS 5 STARS!

I just love Flavia De Luce! I want to be her friend...and certainly not her enemy. She's an eleven year old chemistry genius, who lives in a crumbling mansion with two distant and treacherous sisters and a distracted father. She also has a trusty bicycle and a taste f...more

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Jan 09, 2011 Kirsty (Blatant Biblioholic) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: botns, favourites, fiction, mystery-thriller, historical-fiction

I loved this quirky little mystery. It shows that mysteries don't need blood and gore to be great reads.

The protagonist is Flavia de Luce who, in 1950, lives in an old country house with her father, two annoying sisters and their handyman/gardener, Dogger. When she finds a dead man in the cucumber patch and her father is taken in for questionning, she decides that she needs to do some investigating of her own to clear his name.

I read this after hearing Michael talk about it on the Books on the N...more

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May 19, 2012 Megan Franks rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-lit, book-club, mystery

Delightful. That's how I'd describe this book in one word. If you would have told me that the book is about a precocious, intelligent, chemistry-loving 11-year-old who investigates a murder mystery involving postage stamps, I would have given you a strange look and politely declined. But this book is surprising; it's one of those good reads that you look forward to picking up each night. I thoroughly enjoyed the character of Flavia and the mystery kept me guessing throughout. It wasn't until aft...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Megt rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Megt by: a book store

Shelves: friends-have-read-to, favorites

This book potrays the wondorous ingredients of a chemist's work as the plot unfolds to create what it would seem to be Flavia de Luce in the time of 1950 Buckshaw. The daring story of the sudden murder will keep you entranced to the very last word. I love this book for it's marelous way of taking me back in time to the life of young Flavia.

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 26, 2010 Carol jinx~☆~ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I must admit that I bought this book because of its cover. I know you can't judge a book by its cover...yeah whatever.
Anyway, I loved the character of Flavia De Luce and her knowledge of chemistry is enough to get her in a little bit of trouble. Starting out with a dead bird on the porch with a postage stamp on its beak and then a dead man in the cucumber patch, she remarks:

"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 eve...more

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Apr 06, 2012 Cyndi rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed most aspects of this tale, however as one of my GR friends pointed out, the mystery not so much.

Flavia and her sisters are absolute perfection! Their lonely father lost in the sea that is his daughters, all the while missing his deceased wife, is so melancholy. The faithful family retainer (suffering from PTSD), ever faithful.

I do wish that the mystery had a tad more oomph and twist.

I will try the others in the series...who could stay away from the deLuce girls? I do recommend folks g...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 27, 2012 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

To think I started this once and thought I didn't like it. This is a delightful book. Flavia is 11 and really smart. She is quite the chemist and loves to concoct poisons...such a fun little girl. She named her bicycle Gladys, how cute is that? She is as smart as a whip and understands people better than I think I ever will. I'm not a lover of mysteries, and the mystery part was a very small detail in this wonderful book. It was much more about all the characters. Read it, I know you will love i...more

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May 20, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

I listened to this book and the narrator was wonderful! (Jayne Entwistle)She changed her voice, convincingly, for different characters. Most of the book is spoken by the protagonist, Flavia, and Jayne is great at portraying this 11 year old who is a precocious chemistry lover and amateur sleuth. Her homestead is called Buckshaw (in England) that she shares with her father, Colonel de Luce and two sisters, Ophelia and Daphne and assorted other people including a friend named Dogger. Flavia finds...more

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Jul 14, 2010 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars

Flavia de Luce tells her story which opens with her having been gagged and locked inside a dark closet by her sisters, Ophelia and Daphne. Daphne is thirteen and Ophelia is seventeen and Flavia is only eleven. Flavia is a fascinating character. She spends hours in her chem. lab on the top floor of the east wing of the family mansion, Buckshaw. Flavia specializes in poisonous chemical combinations. She taught herself the considerable chemistry knowledge she has by starting with Intro. to Chemist...more Flavia de Luce tells her story which opens with her having been gagged and locked inside a dark closet by her sisters, Ophelia and Daphne. Daphne is thirteen and Ophelia is seventeen and Flavia is only eleven. Flavia is a fascinating character. She spends hours in her chem. lab on the top floor of the east wing of the family mansion, Buckshaw. Flavia specializes in poisonous chemical combinations. She taught herself the considerable chemistry knowledge she has by starting with Intro. to Chemistry that she found among the chemical library that was left there by Uncle Tarquin de Luce. As a form of revenge, Flavia now inserts a bullet shaped pellet into "Feely's" lipstick. Before I can
find out what happens to Feely's lips, their father, Colonel de Luce finds a dead snipe on the doorstep with a postage stamp impaled upon its bill. The dead bird is only a precursor of more dire events to come.
This is a delightful book in its language and mixture of chemical ecstacy that author, Alan Bradley, dangles enticingly through its paragraphs. Of course, there is the participation in the family by Mrs. Mullet who makes pus-like custard pies that everyone hates. As with most domestics, Mrs. Mullet runs her mouth about occurences in the household exactly when she should keep it shut.
The story is fast paced. Just when you are surprised by something, Flavia explains an event from the past or runs into another colorful character. It just has an interesting movement to it. Bradley is seventy writing about a girl who is eleven living in 1950's England. He uses a young girl because he says, "no one listens to what children say or thinks that children are going to use the information that they hear adults drop." This is the means by which Flavia is able to insinuate herself into British homes and hear things that investigators cannot.
Flavia is delightful and gutsy and every girl should have a large dose of Flavia within. I am wondering though, how much of a dark side will emerge from this kid as the author hints that she knows how to enact revenge. It is easy to see how
this author was given a major writing award and engendered much talk internationally about this book after revealing only fifteen pages. I hope that I remain as in love with this book throughout because Bradley has penned a second and has plans for more. One thing for sure, Flavia is said to be eleven years old, but she is absolutely like no eleven year old you have ever met. I can see these books becoming a series as popular as Harry Potter, but for adults. I can see this book as a movie, but I can't imagine any child actor playing this part.
Flavia is an incredibly precocious girl. She has the best talks she has ever had with her father while he's locked up. She names her bike and travels the town looking for clues and taking huge risks. The hobbies of stamp collecting, magic
tricks and chemistry keep this story alive. The story has a serious nature, but is told in an almost tongue-in-cheek tone and is funny. I love it! The second book is called, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag. It is about a dual murder connected to the theme of puppetry. Sweetness is as close to being creatively brilliant as any contemporary novel I have read. I give this one five stars plus!(less)

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About Alan Bradley

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

With an education in electronic engineering, Alan worked at numerous radio and television stations in Ontario, and at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in Toronto, before becoming Director of Television Engineering in the media centre at the Universit...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

With an education in electronic engineering, Alan worked at numerous radio and television stations in Ontario, and at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in Toronto, before becoming Director of Television Engineering in the media centre at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where he remained for 25 years before taking early retirement to write in 1994.

He became the first President of the Saskatoon Writers, and a founding member of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. His children's stories were published in The Canadian Children's Annual, and his short story, Meet Miss Mullen, was the first recipient of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild Award for Children's Literature.

For a number of years, he regularly taught Script Writing and Television Production courses at the University of Saskatchewan (Extension Division) at both beginner and advanced levels.

His fiction has been published in literary journals and he has given many public readings in schools and galleries. His short stories have been broadcast by CBC Radio.

He was a founding member of The Casebook of Saskatoon, a society devoted to the study of Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockian writings. Here, he met the late Dr. William A.S. Sarjeant, with whom he collaborated on their classic book, Ms Holmes of Baker Street. This work put forth the startling theory that the Great Detective was a woman, and was greeted upon publication with what has been described as "a firestorm of controversy".

The release of Ms. Holmes resulted in national media coverage, with the authors embarking upon an extensive series of interviews, radio and television appearances, and a public debate at Toronto's Harbourfront. His lifestyle and humorous pieces have appeared in The Globe and Mail and The National Post.

His book The Shoebox Bible (McClelland and Stewart, 2006) has been compared with Tuesdays With Morrie and Mr. God, This is Anna.

In July of 2007 he won the Debut Dagger Award of the (British) Crimewriter's Association for his novel The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, the first of a series featuring eleven year old Flavia de Luce, which has since won the 2009 Agatha Award for Best First Novel,the 2010 Dilys Award,the Spotted Owl Award, and the 2010 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie has also been nominated for the Macavity, the Barry, and the Arthur Awards.

Alan Bradley lives in Malta with his wife Shirley and two calculating cats. (less)

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Books by Alan Bradley

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (Flavia de Luce, #2)

A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia De Luce, #4)

Speaking from Among the Bones (Flavia de Luce, #5 )

Flavia de Luce 3-Book Bundle: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, A Red Herring Without Mustard

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“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.” — 341 people liked it

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1)

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