"Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie"

I don't read mysteries very often, but this one was so entertaining it made me wonder, why not? It was a Christmas gift from John, and like many of the books he ferrets out on the Internet, it isn't something I would have found myself.

John almost never reads novels, preferring to better himself instead with chest-crushing tomes on Franz Liszt and such. But he's good at picking out unusual fiction for me. Oh, lucky reader, who has a Nancy Pearl type spouse who also likes to buy books. And by the way dear John, happy anniversary. We were married on February 27, 1993. Some of you were there...

Anyway, the setting for "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" is 1950, in a decaying English country mansion. An eccentric, stamp collecting, reclusive father lives alone with his three daughters. The heroine is the youngest girl--a brilliant and precocious 11 year old named Flavia de Luce. Her passion is organic chemistry and poison, and she is wickedly funny. One fine morning, a dead man shows up in the cucumber patch, and the mystery takes off from there.

This sleuth may be a child, but the story is adult with rich characters, both good and evil. The plot is complex, but not tedious like many overdone mysteries. Most of all I enjoyed the realistic details and description of this long-gone slice of English life. The dialog is clever and funny. I was surprised to learn that the author, 70 year old Alan Bradley, never even visited England until 2007 when he traveled there to receive the "Debut Dagger Award." I loved the man more, just reading that. And now he is on a roll. In an interview on Amazon.com he tells us that five more books are planned for the "Flavia" series. Oh boy! All her new fans can hardly wait.