The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
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England, 1950. In the crumbling halls of Buckshaw estate, eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce spends her days concocting chemical mischief in her late uncle’s lab. Bright, curious, and delightfully morbid, she’s far more interested in poisons than in petticoats.
But when a dead bird appears on the doorstep with a stamp skewered through its beak—and a stranger draws his last breath in the cucumber patch—Flavia’s life takes a thrilling turn. While others reel in shock, Flavia arms herself with a magnifying glass, a bicycle named Gladys, and an irrepressible curiosity. After all, murder is far more interesting than piano lessons.
Clever, witty, and utterly original, this irresistible mystery introduces one of crime fiction’s most unconventional detectives: a precocious girl with a passion for chemistry and justice in equal measure.