The excellent Shelf Awareness newsletter reports that….
Alan Bradley has accomplished quite a feat at Murder by the Book in Houston, Tex. The entire staff has unanimously selected his novel The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie as their pick for best mystery debut of 2009. “It doesn’t happen very often that everyone here loves the same book, but we were all completely charmed by this one,” said store owner McKenna Jordan.
More than half of the store’s 700 copies of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie have sold since it went on sale two weeks ago, with additional books reserved by customers in anticipation of a signing with Bradley on June 1.
In case you don’t know, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the story of Flavia de Luce, an 11-year-old sleiuth who love her chemistry set and discovering why there is a dead body in the cucumber patch.
Check out our interview with Alan Bradley from January when his bandwagon was starting to roll.
