FIVE STARS

When I was ten, or so, I read every Nancy Drew book by Carolyn Keene I could get my hands on. I even managed to keep a good handful of the ‘blue cover’ hardbound copies over these many years. A few are tattered but most are in good condition and just begging to be read again.

I preface with this because I just finished reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and eleven year old Flavia de Luce made me ten again. Flavia reminds me of Nancy Drew though devilishly more cleaver and wickedly more amusing. This is a full-on adult detective novel with a ‘child’ as the protagonist.

The story takes place in England during the 1950s, and when Flavia discovers a dead body in the family’s cucumber patch, the twists and turns through a labyrinth of back-stories begins.

Period detail and snappy dialogue, this is a tour de force first novel for Alan Bradley.

And, I have discovered, the escapade continues in what is to be a Flavia de Luce series (just like Nancy Drew): the second installment will arrive in February 2010 under an offbeat shade of purple.

As offbeat, I suppose, as Flavia naming her BICYCLE Gladys.

Can’t wait to take another bite!