# The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

By Alan Bradley · Flavia de Luce, book 1

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/the-sweetness-at-the-bottom-of-the-pie-2c439137/

Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce has a chemistry laboratory and a strong interest in poisons. At Buckshaw, her family’s English country house, summer 1950 brings a dead bird with a postage stamp on its beak, followed by a dying stranger in the cucumber patch. When suspicion reaches her father, Flavia starts investigating.

## What makes it funny?

Flavia resents her sisters for combining their ages into thirty years against her eleven. After they tie her up and lock her in a closet, she escapes and tells her father she hasn’t seen them in ages. Her complaints have the precision of a scientific argument and the priorities of an offended child.

### The comedy at work

The same exacting mind that arranges dinner peas in rows also plans chemical revenge. Flavia’s composed narration lets spiteful family behavior sound almost reasonable, while her excitement about murder gives the country-house mystery a macabre edge.

### Try this if…

Chemistry enthusiasts and readers who like a caustic first-person detective have plenty to follow here. The 1950 English setting, stamp collecting and family friction give the investigation interests beyond the central puzzle.

### Good to know

The young sleuth lives among adult troubles. Alongside the murder, expect cruel sibling teasing, confinement, chemical retaliation and a family still marked by her mother’s death.

## What to expect

- Genre: Historical · Mystery
- On the shelf: Amateur sleuth · Cozy mystery · Historical mystery
- Kind of humor: Dark comedy · Dry wit
- Format: Novel
- Length: 416 pages
- Audiobook: 9 hr 53 min
- Published: 2009

## A few distinguishing details

- An eleven-year-old poison enthusiast investigates
- A country-house murder in 1950
- Scientific precision applied to sibling revenge

## Sources & further reading

- Book information: [Apple Books audiobook](https://books.apple.com/ca/audiobook/the-sweetness-at-the-bottom-of-the-pie/id1416893365)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/17186/the-sweetness-at-the-bottom-of-the-pie-by-alan-bradley)
- Author commentary: [Author overview](https://alanbradleyauthor.com/books/the-sweetness-at-the-bottom-of-the-pie/overview)
- Review: [Kirkus review](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alan-bradley/the-sweetness-at-the-bottom-of-the-pie)
- Reading sample: [Publisher excerpt](https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book?isbn=9780385343497)