by Alan Bradley
reviewed by Melissa Bautista
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a humorous mystery novel written by Alan Bradley. The novel is set in the 1950’s, and is narrated by the main protagonist, amateur chemist and 11 year old Flavia de Luce. By having the story told by a witty eleven year old, Bradley catches the reader’s attention in a charming and loveable way.
One strategy Bradley uses to help the reader understand and get to know Flavia is his use of vibrant vocabulary. In an earlier part of her adventure, Flavia goes to The Thirteen Drakes in search of evidence and must escape from Tulley, the obnoxiously loud innkeeper, because he did not know she was meddling around. Flavia winds up escaping under a car that drives far from her home, and must walk back. She arrives near the edge of her town when she thinks to herself, “It was from this angle and at this time of day that I loved it most. As I approached from the west, the mellow old stone glowed like saffron in the late afternoon sun, well settled into the landscape like a complacent mother hen squatting on her eggs, with the Union Jack stretching itself contentedly overhead,” (p105, Alan Bradley). The way Flavia describes her surroundings really shows how observant she is, how intellectual she is, and the way she views the world. For a first-person narrative, it is really important that an author establishes a character’s personality and worldview, and in this novel, Alan Bradley executes it very well.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a beautifully written piece about a murder mystery, following the curious Flavia Sabina (Dolores) de Luce on her journey to find who did murdered the mystery man, why he or she did it, and why they chose to dump the body into the de Luce’s cucumber garden. With the riveting plot line, and the entertaining commentary of Flavia de Luce, I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who loves a good mystery and a good laugh.
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