"The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley

I was first introduced to Flavia de Luce through "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" 10+ years ago, when it was a relatively new bestseller (published in 2009).  A member of an online book club I belonged to then suggested it for our next read. Alas, the book club petered out shortly after that, and we never did get to discuss it together, but I read the book in the meantime and I was hooked!  In the years since then, I've read (and loved) all 10 Flavia novels written by the author (Alan Bradley, a Canadian now living on the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom). I've reviewed all nine of those subsequent novels on this blog in some way, but never the book that kicked it all off -- until now!  

My Childless Collective (formerly Gateway/Lighthouse Women) Nomo book club is always on the lookout for books featuring strong, independent female characters (and NO "miracle babies"), and I thought Flavia definitely fit the bill. So I was delighted when we decided "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" would be our November book.  I'll be leading the discussion on this one, and since it's been well over a decade since I first read it (and 4+ years since I last visited Flavia in book #10), I downloaded an e-copy to start re-reading on my recent trip to Manitoba.  

The story begins memorably with 11-year-old Flavia de Luce bound and gagged in a closet (!) in a remote corner of Buckshaw, her family's crumbling ancestral home in early 1950s Britain. Flavia lives there with her father, Colonel Havilland de Luce;  two villainous teenaged sisters, Daphne and Ophelia;  and Arthur Dogger, the gardener, a veteran of the recent war who saved the Colonel's life and suffers from what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his time in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.  The girls' mother, Harriet, disappeared mysteriously on an expedition to Tibet years earlier, and her absence haunts the family.  

In many ways, Flavia is a typical 11-year-old girl, with pigtails and braces and a bicycle she calls Gladys -- but she's also highly precocious -- a budding chemist with a particular interest in poison (!) and a talent for telling fibs (as well as picking locks) -- and she's intrigued when, first, a dead bird turns up on the doorstep with a Penny Black stamp stuck through its beak -- and then the body of a man turns up in the cucumber patch. Colonel de Luce is arrested for murder, and the precocious Flavia promptly begins an investigation to prove his innocence.  

It was such a delight to be back in Flavia's company again. I was surprised by what I remembered from my original reading -- and what I'd forgotten. The first part of the book moved more slowly than I remembered, but the action (and tension) accelerates in the last part -- and the ending put a huge smile on my face. :)  (And now I'm tempted to start re-reading the other books in the series too...!) 

4.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded up to 5 on Goodreads.  

*** *** *** 

The novel has an interesting origin story.  Says Wikipedia: 

When Bradley's wife heard author Louise Penny, a 2004 Debut Dagger award runner-up, on the radio talking about the British crime-writing competition, she encouraged her husband to enter... The competition, which is open to anyone who has not yet published a novel commercially, requires would-be novelists to submit the first 3,000 words (or less), along with a 500-1,000 word synopsis. Writing the draft of the first chapter "took Bradley just a couple of days, but he then spent weeks polishing it, only just sneaking the first pages of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie in under the final deadline."

He won the 2007 Debut Dagger "based on a chapter and a synopsis," and "signed a three-book deal with Orion for a crime series centering on 11-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce." Through agent Denise Bukowski, he also auctioned U.S. rights to Bantam Books and Canadian rights to Doubleday Canada, securing three separate three-book deals for a proposed six-book series, based on a 17-page submission. Calling the submission fresh and original, Kristin Cochrane of Doubleday Canada admitted: "we've rarely, if ever bought fiction on so little material." Orion's Bill Massey agreed, remarking that "it was just a chapter, but it was so outstanding that it made me realise he is a real talent, and that he had an idea that could be a really terrific series." Massey further explained that "Flavia just seemed so alive on the page, and her voice was so distinctive and engaging." After Bradley picked up the Dagger award in London on his first trip to England, the Canadian author took a few weeks off and then "sat down and wrote Sweetness in seven months flat."

Besides the 2007 Debut Dagger award, the book won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel (2009), Barry Award for Best First Novel (2010), Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel (2010), Dilys Award (2010),  and Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel (2010); and was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction & Mystery/Thriller (2009) as well as an Anthony Award for Best First Novel (2010). 

If you're interested in this series, I'd strongly recommend starting at the beginning with this title, and working your way through in chronological order, since each book builds on the ones before it, with some overarching storylines that continue from volume to volume. 

And!  Good news for Flavia fans:  In April, on his Facebook page, Bradley shared the news that he's been contracted to write two more Flavia books, to be published in Fall 2024 and Fall 2025. The title of the next one will be "What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust." 

AND!  There's a Flavia movie in the works too!! with Martin Freeman as Colonel de Luce, Toby Jones and Jonathan Pryce, and a young actress named Isla Gie in the role of Flavia. 

Here's Alan Bradley's website, although it's not up to date. (Did you know he's 85 years old??) His Facebook page has current news, though, and it's worth following -- he posts there personally and sometimes responds to comments.  :) 

This was Book #38 read to date in 2023 (and Book #2 finished in October), bringing me to 84% of my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 3 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2023 tagged as "2023 books."