The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie ─ A Flavia De Luce Mystery

Fans of Louise Fitzhugh's iconic Harriet the Spy will welcome 11-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce, the heroine of Canadian journalist Bradley's rollicking debut. In an early 1950s English village, Flavia is preoccupied with retaliating against her lofty older sisters when a rude, redheaded stranger arrives to confront her eccentric father, a philatelic devotee. Equally adept at quoting 18th-century works, listening at keyholes and picking locks, Flavia learns that her father, Colonel de Luce, may be involved in the suicide of his long-ago schoolmaster and the theft of a priceless stamp. The sudden expiration of the stranger in a cucumber bed, wacky village characters with ties to the schoolmaster, and a sharp inspector with doubts about the colonel and his enterprising young detective daughter mean complications for Flavia and enormous fun for the reader. Tantalizing hints about a gardener with a shady past and the mysterious death of Flavia's adventurous mother promise further intrigues ahead. (Apr.)
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我熱愛化學，對毒藥情有獨鍾，對謀殺案特感興趣，我是芙拉維亞，今年11歲……
每天想盡辦法惡整兩位討厭的姊姊，是我的人生樂趣之一。
不過，這些都比不上謀殺案來得令人興奮……
這天一大早，我竟然在花園的黃瓜圃裡發現一具陌生人的屍體！
而沉默寡言、足不出戶、酷愛集郵的老爸，居然和死者有所瓜葛，
甚至被當成嫌犯帶走了！
老爸真的是殺人凶手？或者是神經脆弱的園丁失手打死人了？
難不成，死者是不小心吃了穆雷太太難吃到爆的派被毒死的？
古靈精怪的腦袋＋配備齊全的化學實驗室＋心愛的紅色腳踏車
史上最”搞怪”的小女孩，準備挖掘老爸的過往，一舉揭開神祕的謎團！

Alan Bradley has published many children’s stories as well as lifestyle and arts columns in Canadian newspapers. His adult stories have been broadcast on CBC Radio and published in various literary journals. He won the first Saskatchewan Writers Guild Award for Children’s Literature. He lives in British Columbia. Delacorte Press will publish the next in Bradley’s delirious new series, The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, in 2010.


From the Hardcover edition.