When I tell Todd what book I am reading.. which is happening much more these days since, thanks to the Kindle, he can't see what book I am reading... he'll often say "that's sounds like a book you would read"... and I can't deny it is often the title or cover of a book that attracts me to it... even if I read it on the Kindle, rarely ever "find" a book on it... usually online, in a bookstore, etc.
... and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley is certainly one of those titles that piqued my curiosity, let alone that cover... which makes total sense once you get into the story... and it all involves a pie too! Those Brits or maybe I should expand that to United Kingdom-ers) certainly have a way of coming up with charming titles as this title was reminiscent of something my guilty-pleasure, Alexander McCall Smith of No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency fame, would come up with. Bradley's follow-up to this book (to be published March 2010!) is called The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, I don't know where these guys come up with this stuff!
If your eyes are sill in good shape, you can see that this book was the winner of The Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award, thus confirming my thought that there is an award for anything... and everything, though this delightful book is certainly worthy of the honor. Much like McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe, Bradley has created a spunky female detective (and budding chemist!) in Flavia de Luce. And much to my surprise, it was easy to fall in love with Flavia... why? Well, she's only 11 years old! Unlike raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, precocious children are not one of my favorite things in life... and Flavia is certainly precocious but Bradley manages to imbue her with enough charm to make her extremely likable.
Granted I rarely do it with any book I "review" here, but it seems particularly cruel to give away an of the plot for a mystery novel. Though I will add that this takes place in 1950s small-town England, so there is a (very) mildly historic aspect to it... but I think between it being very British and the 50s, it does give it even more charm. Not that I've read Sherlock Holmes (or Agatha Christie), but this does seem to be in that vein... so a bit convoluted at times, a bit of convenience when it comes to that deductive reasoning, a bit of luck that our heroine gets herself out of several jams... but I think that's something one is generally willing to put aside when getting into this type of book.
As I alluded to above, there is already a sequel (and more!) planned for Flavia and I will certainly be looking forward to more. It's certainly rare that I start one of these series at the start vs. playing catch-up 4 or 5 books into the series. Also, quite interesting is that Bradley achieved this debut at age 70! Quite amazing and inspiring in not give up on one's dreams! Though, somewhat morbidly, I only hope that Bradley can get to that end of that book deal!
Thanks for the review. I've come to trust your taste in reading material and though I browsed past this book, I think I'll go back.
Posted by: Pamala Knight | Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 05:51 PM