I think I've detected a pattern in my reading for the last year....mysteries. I've never been attracted to them because I thought they only came in the form of poorly written and cheaply bound grocery store novels. Yesterday I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and it was wonderful. The protagonist is Flavia de Luce, an 11 year old girl living in post WWII England. She lives in the very large home, Buckshaw, that has been in her family for generations with her two older sisters and her father. Flavia's love is chemistry with an extra interest in poisons. She inherited the lab of one of her deceased uncles and experiments with concoctions to torture her sisters Ophelia and Daphne. Flavia is intelligent, quick-witted, and very curious about the world. She is also lonely and longing for a family bond that doesn't openly exist. When she stumbles upon a murdered man in her family's cucumber patch, she is drawn to discover the killer and rides Gladys (her bicycle) around the English countryside finding answers. Apparently this is Alan Bradley's first novel and he intends to continue with more about Flavia. Oh I dear hope so!
