Meanwhile, strangers and residents alike are under the scrutiny of Inspector Hewitt. It is this trauma that they carry that most concerns Flavia as Father will show flashes of his former, assertive self when roused and Dogger is known to have spells of confusion…or worse. The other members of the household, Father and Dogger, both still suffer from the scars of fighting in the Second World War just five years over. Much of the time, however, the older sisters simply provide flavor to the plot by building the family dynamic and a nice touch of comic relief with Feely’s constant preening and Daffy’s bookish distraction. Flavia is outnumbered but not outwitted as they trade barbs and elaborate pranks. Theirs is an amusingly vitriolic relationship.

It is not family loyalty that protects them, probably the opposite. In fact, nobody escapes Flavia’s suspicion except for her two older sisters: seventeen-year-old Ophelia, or “Feely”, and thirteen-year-old Daphne, or “Daffy”. Nor does she escape Flavia’s suspicion as it may have been her custard pie -detested by all Buckshaw’s residents-that delivered the poison to the victim.

Mullet, their gossiping cook, has information to help. But Flavia’s inquiries soon spread throughout the town as it becomes clear this stranger was known by more than just Father. In a small town like Bishop’s Lacey there is only one place for a stranger to seek lodging. Flying to and fro between Buckshaw and the nearby hamlet of Bishop’s Lacey on her trusty bicycle, Gladys, she begins to unravel this world-class mystery. With her own wits and snippets of overheard information from the police, Flavia begins her own line of inquiry. Flavia does not sit idly on the sidelines when she worries that Father -whom she had seen arguing with the stranger in his study the evening before-or his doggedly loyal jack-of-all-trades, Dogger, might have been involved. These skills prove useful when a man dies in the de Luce vegetable garden just hours after a dead bird shows up on the kitchen doorstep with an unusual item in its beak: a postage stamp.

Her inquisitive and independent nature seems to have been inherited from her late mother rather than her distant, philatelist father. She has a passion for poison-and all things chemistry-that she is able to cultivate in the laboratory of Buckshaw, her family estate in rural England. Flavia is not your typical post-war pre-teen Briton. “So,” you may ask, “is she the titular ‘sweetness’ in the story?” Absolutely not. From the opening paragraph (no small feat!), Bradley brilliantly weaves a web of murder, privilege, and PTSD around the protagonist and sleuth, eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce. In The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley you will find a new classic in the mystery genre. A Great Treat in the Mystery Genre: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Sweetness at the bottom