The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

top 榮獲英國犯罪作家協會新人匕首獎 美國獨立書商協會當月選書#1 Amazon書店2009年4月選書#1、神祕與驚悚類Top 10 紐約時報、美國獨立書商協會暢銷榜 Amazon書店銷售總榜#10、文學小說榜#3 全球熱賣29國版權 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…… 家裡的黃瓜圃居然出現一具陌生的屍體 而那個只知道集郵的老爸還是嫌疑犯？ 這麼有趣的事，我不插手就太對不起自己了 ~ 什麼？誰說11歲小女孩不能當偵探？！ 1隻死鳥＋1具屍體＋2張郵票＋30年塵封謎案…… 一切都是從那隻嘴上戳著郵票的死鳥開始的…… 11歲的芙拉維亞是個熱愛化學的小女孩，對毒藥尤其感興趣， 每天想盡辦法惡整兩位討厭的姊姊，是她的人生樂趣之一。 不過，這些都比不上謀殺案來得令人興奮…… 這天一大早，她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！ In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950—and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia’s family calls home. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life 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.” To Flavia the investigation is the stuff of science: full of possibilities, contradictions, and connections. Soon her father, a man raising his three daughters alone, is seized, accused of murder. And in a police cell, during a violent thunderstorm, Colonel de Luce tells his daughter an astounding story—of a schoolboy friendship turned ugly, of a priceless object that vanished in a bizarre and brazen act of thievery, of a Latin teacher who flung himself to his death from the school’s tower thirty years before. Now Flavia is armed with more than enough knowledge to tie two distant deaths together, to examine new suspects, and begin a search that will lead her all the way to the King of England himself. Of this much the girl is sure: her father is innocent of murder—but protecting her and her sisters from something even worse…. An enthralling mystery, a piercing depiction of class and society, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a masterfully told tale of deceptions—and a rich literary delight. 作者簡介亞倫．布萊德雷（Alan Bradley） 亞倫．布萊德雷大學念的是電機工程，多年來在電視台和廣播電台任職，也在大學裡教過劇本寫作、電視製作等課程。十四年前，他提早退休，開始認真創作，寫了很多給小孩子看的故事，散見於加拿大的童書期刊。 他寫了一本頗有自傳色彩的勵志書《鞋盒聖經》（The Shoebox Bible），被書評家拿來和《最後十四堂星期二的課》相提並論。此外也和同好成立了「薩斯卡屯事件簿」（The Casebook of Saskatoon），這是個福爾摩斯迷專門討論、研究和創作相關作品的組織。他結識了威廉．沙真博士（Dr. William A.S. Sarjeant），兩人合著了《貝克街的福爾摩斯小姐》（Ms. Holmes of Baker Street），他們在書中舉證歷歷，認為推理文學第一名偵探不是男兒身，卻是如假包換的女人！ 這位住在加拿大、年過七旬的老先生一直是個推理小說迷，心中一直想寫推理小說，也確實有個構思了很多年的主意。這時他聽說英國犯罪作家協會的「匕首獎」裡面有一項「新人匕首」（Debut Dagger）開放未出版、甚至未完成的作品投稿。於是寄出三千字的《餡餅的祕密》稿子，外加兩本「續集」的故事大綱，各只有一行文，結果輕鬆擊敗所有的參賽者，拿下新人匕首大獎。 讀了一輩子推理小說的老頑童布萊德雷，總算一償夙願，自己也成了推理作家，他預計要寫至少六本芙拉維亞的故事。，一本比一本稀奇古怪。目前在美國書才剛出版，已經賣出了二十九國版權，而且幾乎都是由最頂尖的大出版社一口氣簽下三本。老先生還有什麼新把戲，我們不妨拭目以待。 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.