Flavia de Luce (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) by Alan Bradley

[Nell]

For November '22, jaxnsmom picks Flavia de Luce by Alan Bradley. Set in a small English village in the 1950's, Flavia de Luce is a precocious 11-year old sleuth and aspiring chemist fascinated with poisons. The first book in the series is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.


Other books in the series:


The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
A Red Herring Without Mustard
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
Speaking from Among the Bones
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse - novella
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd:
The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
The Golden Tresses of the Dead

Discuss any book in the series here.

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

I love this series and have read all but the last two. I'm trying to make the series last, so I keep putting those off.

Flavia reminds me a lot of my son when he was that age - precocious, curious about everything, persistent and good at working around "rules" imposed by adults :)

[Mark]

I've got to say, I found this series a bit uneven. Some are good, but some drag on as Flavia (and the author) get so proud of themselves that they ramble on.

Having said that, I have read all of the books. This was a series I chose to read via audio, and if you haven't found them that way, I extremely highly recommend you do. Jane Entwhistle, the narrator, does a fantastic job bringing the books to life. I honestly don't know that I could read them at this point. I'd miss her narration too much.

[Zermeena]

I hope to read Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd this month. I agree with Mark that Jane Entwhistle's narration brings Flavia to life.

[Cheryl A.]

If I get the chance, I can get this series at my local library.

[Meg]

I love this series! The last one I read, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (#6), was sad yet hopeful. I, too, stretch the series out so I won't run out too fast.

Edited to add that I listen to the books rather than read them. They're done so well!

[jaxnsmom]

I agree with Mark that the audio was excellent. Ms. Entwhistle brought Flavia to life - I could picture her in my mind.
Barb - if your son resembles Flavia you must not have had many peaceful moments. 🤪

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

LOL We managed, but he definitely kept me on my toes :)

It took me a while to discover the audiobooks, but now that I have, I can't make myself read the print books anymore...

[Helen]

I’ve been wanting to read this series for a while, and finished the audiobook of on a 3 hour return road trip today.
Good start to a series. I work with some children who could be modern Flavias, and really appreciate their quirkiness.
As others have said, the narration is excellent.

[Zermeena]

I listened to Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd . It was as entertaining as the other books in this series. However, I don't consider these cozy mysteries because of the dark overtones throughout the books.