By: Kennedy Krumrei
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley takes place in England in the 1950s. The novel focuses on the first person POV of Flavia de Luce, an 11-year-old whose primary traits are being an amateur at sleuthing and a passionate nerd for chemistry. The novel starts off with Flavia messing with her sisters, specifically Ophelia who has items of vanity like lipstick and pearls stolen from her so that Flavia can conduct experiments. One day, her family’s cook Mrs. Mullet finds something peculiar on the doorstep of the family’s house: a dead bird with a postage stuck on its beak. At the end of the same day, Flavia encounters her father Colonel de Luce having an altercation with a red-headed man she does not know. Before Flavia hears much, her family’s gardener Dogger catches her and tells her to go to bed. The next morning, she finds and watches the same unknown man dying before her eyes, his last word being vale. She calls the police over and meets Inspector Hewitt, the man leading the investigation. Flavia decides to take up matters into her own hands and run her own investigation on the recent death.
She starts by searching for background information on the dead man, learning his name was Horace Bonepenny, a classmate of her father. Upon further discovery, she learns that Bonepenny stole a prized stamp and was in possession of insulin vials and an envelope with two orange stamps. Flavia urges herself to continue her search when her father is arrested for Bonepenny’s death. Inspector Hewitt lets the girl see her father Colonel de Luce and tells her a story, speaking of Luce befriending Bonepenny. De Luce found out Bonepenny was a dishonest guy after Bonepenny became friends with a disagreeable man named Bob Stanley. Bonepenny tricked Grenville Twining (a staff member of the school Bonepenny went to) into telling the headmaster (named Dr. Kissing) to bring out a stamp he so dearly prized (he prized it so much because the king had a twin stamp). Bonepenny pretended like he burnt it, instead stealing it with de Luce’s help, who was unaware of the full plan. Twining seemed to kill himself after losing it.
Flavia goes to Bonepenny’s old school and deduces that he and Stanley murdered the headmaster and covered it up as suicide. While Flavia investigates, she is repeatedly encountered by Frank Pemberton, claiming to be an author who wants to interview her father. Flavia makes connections and realizes that Pemberton is Stanley. Flavia heads to Twining’s gravestone for further information but is kidnapped by Stanley and is demanded to know where she put the stamps. Flavia makes up a lie while figuring out Stanley was the murderer of Bonepenny and had killed him using a deadly poison named carbon tetrachloride. Stanley realizes Flavia was lying and threatens to off her just like Bonepenny but ends up being caught by the police in time and arrested. Flavia returns the king’s stamp and is thanked.
This book was okay in my opinion. The way the protagonist Flavia acted felt odd and out of place. Despite seeming intelligent, she is reckless and throws herself towards a purpose that she, a child, is too inexperienced for. She sticks her head in many people’s businesses and risks her life a lot to find the real killer and free her father from prison, but she does not once consider whether all of her actions are worth it, especially when at the end of the book, she is nearly murdered just like the murder that drives her to start investigating. There are some moments in the book that I did enjoy, but they were overshadowed by the peculiar writing.
The novel The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was a weird book in general. I did not hate it, but the book felt weird and bland at times. I rank this book a 3/5 for me. If you like reading about kids who endanger themselves while attempting to play grown-up, I recommend this book for you.
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