Due to an unforseen circumstance known as life, it's been a while since I've posted. I've still been trying to read and review, things just weren't making it onto the blog. But I'm back! So look for a few extra reviews over the next few days as I try to catch up!
"The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" is the first installment of a mystery series featuring Flavia de Luce, an 11 year old chemist and detective. In the book Flavia comes to the aid of the local police when a mysterious murder and stamp heist occurs on her family's crumbling English estate. Flavia quickly raps up the mystery, all while successfully tormenting her older sisters. I think that perhaps this book is not my ideal "piece of pie". There were parts of "Sweetness" that were quite clever and funny, but there were also parts that I found just dull and mundane. The chemistry and details of stamp collecting in particular, really felt like they weighed down the story, and didn't really seem like things that an 11 year old girl would discuss in detail, for long stretches. I understand that this is part of what makes the book funny, but it was also something that bored me as a reader because of the excruciating detail used to describe it.
All in all, my feelings about this book were just lukewarm. I didn't love it, but I also didn't think it was terrible. It could make an entertaining beach read, since the plot is very straightforward and easy to figure out. I think I would read another Flavia de Luce book out of curiosity, and I think if you're into mysteries, this could totally be your thing.
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