Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The summer of 1950 hasn't offered up anything out of the ordinary for eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce: bicycle explorations around the village, keeping tabs on her neighbours, relentless battles with her older sisters, Ophelia and Daphne, and brewing up poisonous concoctions while plotting revenge in their home's abandoned Victorian chemistry lab, which Flavia has claimed for her own.

But then a series of mysterious events gets Flavia's attention: A dead bird is found on the doormat, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. A mysterious late-night visitor argues with her aloof father, Colonel de Luce, behind closed doors. And in the early morning Flavia finds a red-headed stranger lying in the cucumber patch and watches him take his dying breath. For Flavia, the summer begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw: "I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life."

Did the stranger die of poisoning? There was a piece missing from Mrs. Mullet's custard pie, and none of the de Luces would have dared to eat the awful thing. Or could he have been killed by the family's loyal handyman, Dogger… or by the Colonel himself! At that moment, Flavia commits herself to solving the crime - even if it means keeping information from the village police, in order to protect her family. But then her father confesses to the crime, for the same reason, and it's up to Flavia to free him of suspicion. Only she has the ingenuity to follow the clues that reveal the victim's identity, and a conspiracy that reaches back into the de Luces' murky past.

Flavia de Luce, a little smartass curmudgeon, with a lightning quick mind, is like no other 11 year old girl. Her prestigious family lives in Buckshaw, the rambling ancestral estate of the de Luces. Her father either bolts himself in his study to pursue his philetist interests or in his aging Rolls Royce to grieve the long past death of his wife Harriet; her sister Daphne always has her head buried in Dickens or some other esoteric author; and her sister Ophelia spends her hours staring at her reflection and primping or absorbed in playing her piano. Flavia is left to her own devices, which would be to indulge in her obsessive interest in Chemistry in the laboratory she has claimed as her own at Buckshaw.

When Flavia stumbles upon a man dying in the early hours of the morning in Buckshaw's cucumber patch and with his last odorous exhale states “Vale”, she determinedly sets out to investigate the manner of his death.  Flavia is delicious in her pleasure of things of a gruesome nature. I often found myself chuckling at her over the top rudeness, diabolical thoughts and ornery nature. Flavia tries to be this strong, indomitable force, yet we are shown that at her heart she is still an 11 year old girl with a clutch of insecurities.

The novel is a complex formula in itself;  layers and sidesteps and sequences all combined together to form a brilliant deduction. The quality of the writing is first rate, with vivid descriptions of a bygone era. The abundance of details in this unique series debut are a sheer delight.  So many interesting topics are described in myopic detail that keep you enthralled with the story - philetology, chemistry, the art of conjuring, forensic science and investigations, and literature. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a brilliant effort that shines bright and true. Highly recommend.

Winner of the 2007 CWA Debut Dagger Award.

Next up in the series: The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag released in hardcover March 9, 2010.

My Rating: 5.0

ChaptersIndigo
Amazon

A Rare Chance by Carla Neggers

Gabriella Starr has silk suits, champagne tastes, and a great new career. She also has a strange man following her around Boston. Two of them, actually. When she tries to chase down the first, she encounters the second -- ex-cop and new D.A. Cam Yaeger. He's sure she's in trouble, but Gabriella bristles when he offers to help. She's way too attracted to him, and it's not like her to go for law-enforcement types anyway. She''s far too independent, too naturally defiant. And she's spent too many nights in jail....

Cam Yeager likes cold beer, his Bruins sweatshirt, and shaving every other day. He knows all about Gabriella Starr, her eccentric father, and their years rescuing rare, endangered orchids no matter the stakes. Now something shady is going on in Boston. And something explosive is hovering on the horizon as well: the wild fireworks of two intense opposites falling in love....

Gabriella is a woman who will not settle for any less in a man then the one who understand both sides of her personality...the adventurer and the straightlaced businesswoman. After leaving her father to his orchid adventures for stability in Boston, she unwittingly becomes a target of animosity from her employer's brother, Joshua Reading. Having noticed she is being followed by not one by two ex-cops she confronts cop-turned-lawyer Cam Yeager and demands answers. When he refuses to give them, Gaby determines to investigate for herself exactly what is going on with the people she works for.

Complicating events further, her nomadic father and her long-time friend Lizzie show up at her apartment after having not seen each other for more than a year. In a so-called whirlwind romance, Lizzie and Joshua become involved, making Gabriella's decisions murky and actions weighty with consequence.

A Rare Chance has some great characters and an interesting story.  The book cover does not really fit the storyline...I hate that! An orchid greenhouse attached to Garbriella's apartment happens to be a setting where a lot of the character interactions takes place. I thought all the details about orchids and their care provided an additional element of interest.  A few plots elements were unnecessary or contrived and detracted from the story.

I appreciated how Neggers dealt with and provided a comparison of different types intimate and familial relationships and the types of people who get involved in each. Those that are healthy where the individual keeps their identity and those that are unhealthy, obsessive, dominating, and emotionally damaging.

I think I like romantic suspense so much because I am a problem-solver. Regular romance stories are mainly about the character's issues and how the characters find resolution together for the HEA. But romantic suspense provides more dimension, threatening situations, hopefully thrilling plot and an added layer of tension. Originally published in 1996, A Rare Chance is a solid romantic suspense novel that fans of Carla Neggers will enjoy. The romantic side of the story is not very involved but this is typical of Negger's novels...more of a sideline really with suspense front and center.

Recently released in paperback by Carla Neggers is The Mist. The Whisper will be released June 29, 2010 in hardcover. Cold Dawn November 1, 2010 in paperback.

My Rating: 3.5

ChaptersIndigo
Amazon

Related Posts:
Cold River by Carla Neggers
Cold Pursuit by Carla Neggers
The Angel by Carla Neggers