The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery
WINNER OF THE AGATHA • ARTHUR ELLIS • DILYS • DEBUT DAGGER AWARDS
“Wonderfully entertaining . . . sure to be one of the most loved mysteries of the year . . . [Flavia is] a delightful, intrepid, acid-tongued new heroine.”—Chicago Sun-Times
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 dying 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.”
BONUS: This edition contains a The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie discussion guide and an excerpt from Alan Bradley's The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag.
“Wonderfully entertaining . . . sure to be one of the most loved mysteries of the year . . . [Flavia is] a delightful, intrepid, acid-tongued new heroine.”—Chicago Sun-Times
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 dying 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.”
BONUS: This edition contains a The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie discussion guide and an excerpt from Alan Bradley's The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag.
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Community Reviews
Loved this quaint little tale and the main character so much.
Favorite quote was " Unless some sweetness at the bottom lie, who cares for all the crinkling of the pie".
Favorite quote was " Unless some sweetness at the bottom lie, who cares for all the crinkling of the pie".
Fun read about a precocious 11-year-old girl, Flavia de Luce, who has a fascination with chemistry and is curious about everything. She turns into a sleuth when a stranger is found dead in their garden.
The first in a series.
The first in a series.
What a great story and a fun, young heroine. I've already placed the next book in this series in my library queue. The book is set in the English countryside in 1950 and eleven year old Flavia is my kind of girl. Thanks Shauna, Brook, and my other great book club friends for this recommendation.
I was really looking forward to reading this story because I had heard good things from other readers, but I was disappointed. :( This story is very slow and several times the writer goes off about something that has nothing to do with the main story. I had to struggle to read it and became very frustrated with the whole thing.
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