THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE

TITLE: THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE
AUTHOR: ALAN BRADLEY
Pages: 292
Date: 09/07/2009
Grade: 4+
Details: no. 1 Flavia De Luce Mystery
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Flavia De Luce is an eleven year old girl growing up in an old country house in England in the 1950's, where she lives with her reclusive, philatelist, father and distant, rather horrible, sisters, keeping herself busy with chemistry experiments.
When a dead Snipe is found on their doorstep, with an old stamp speared on to it's beak, it thoroughly upsets Flavia's father. And later on the same day, Flavia overhears her father arguing with some unseen stranger, an argument during which a murder is mentioned.
The next day Flavia discovers a dead man in the cucumber patch behind the house and soon after Flavia's father is arrested and taken away.
Unwilling and unable to accept her father's guilt, Flavia decides to investigate. A decision that takes her into her father's past and the secrets that lie there and soon puts her in terrible danger.
I think that if you were to meet Flavia for real she might prove to be an infuriating sort of child. However, on the pages of this book she was great fun to be with, if a bit too wise for her years.
I enjoyed this mystery and well written story and will be looking forward to reading the next one (THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN'S BAG) when it comes out next March.