136)Īlso, the ending is incredibly satisfying – resolving the mystery and stirring the heart. Even on the doorstep I could feel the dampness of the place: the tree’s languid branches formed a green bell jar through which little light seemed to penetrate, giving me the odd sensation of being under water.” (p. “Except for a handkerchief-sized scrap of grass at one side, Miss Mountjoy’s willow filled the fenced-in yard. Author Alan Bradley has a masterful grasp of the English language and uses it to both amuse and draw in the reader to his time and place: I thoroughly enjoyed the unlikely pairing of a precocious eleven-year-old and a middle-aged British police inspector. I would rather not divulge the book’s plot, but, instead, rave about its characterization, turns of phrase, and wonderful conclusion. The story’s twists are supported by the time and place as well as the unusual interests of the characters which range from stamp-collecting to making poisons all of which are highly researched and ingeniously incorporated.” Her influence has just begun and I must thank Uncle Mike Stanley for telling me about her, and Phyllis at my local library for insisting that I listen to the audio version of the book narrated splendidly by Jayne Entwistle.Īn excerpt from the series website sets the scene: “Alan Bradley plants the story deep into the setting of 1950s England, with a portrait of an eccentric home life that is all too wickedly familiar. “Character is king” and Alan Bradley has created royalty in Flavia de Luce, who is a wonderful, charming, uncannily intelligent, motherless child.
Immediately acclaimed, book one won a long string of awards, including the Debut Dagger Award of the British Crimewriter’s Association and the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. So arriving late to the party is just fine, as long as I enjoy it when I get there! ( The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, the first in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, was first published in 2009, so I am just four years late). I want to indulge in a personal comment before telling you about this series: I have entered my fifth decade and want to say that I now firmly believe the old adage: “It’s never too late”. I am just now tasting the delights of the mystery series by Canadian author Alan Bradley starring Flavia de Luce – an 11-year prodigy who solves crimes ahead of highly intelligent Inspector Hewitt.īut I am getting ahead of myself. “Unless some sweetness at the bottom lie, who cares for all the crinkling of the pie?” William King, The Art of Cookery (1708)
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