97 pages • 3 hours read
Alan BradleyThe Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
Flavia says the de Luce family has been Roman Catholic since ancient times, but her family regularly attends St. Tancred’s, a bastion of the Church of England and the only church in Bishop’s Lacey. Her father and the vicar both went to Greyminster, and her father considers it an acceptable place of worship: “St. Tancred’s, he said, had been a Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation and, in his eyes, remained one” (114). Some years ago, congregants complained about a Catholic family being in attendance, but proper donations to the church took care of that.
As they sit in church while the General Confession from the Book of Common Prayer is recited, Flavia notices that both Dogger and her father are mouthing the words, which is very unusual. Flavia admires the stained glass, knowing the chemical compositions of the different colors. Because of their identity as Roman Catholics, Flavia imagines that St. Tancred, who has a pleasant face in his stained-glass panel, must favor her family.
Flavia realizes that the vicar is praying for the dead man in the garden, revealing that Mrs. Mullet was gossiping in town. With a bang, Miss Mountjoy leaves her kneeling bench and rushes out.
Flavia tells Ophelia that she feels nauseous, so Ophelia lets her slide by. Flavia follows Miss Mountjoy outside, wondering what upset her so much. Flavia considers running after her, but she clearly wants to be alone.
As people shake her father’s hand after the service, Flavia notes, “What with the murder, we de Luces were all the rage as the villagers in their Sunday finery lined up to speak with us or, sometimes, simply to touch us as if we were talismans” (118-119). No one mentions the actual crime, and only small talk follows.
Inspector Hewitt is waiting back at Buckshaw and asks to speak to Colonel de Luce. They move to his study. Not knowing what else to do, Flavia goes to the garden, which has returned to its normal, boring condition. Flavia glances up and realizes that the cucumber patch is right outside her window. She wonders how she did not hear any struggle.
Flavia realizes that if the stranger was violently attacked, she would have heard a commotion. This means that the man was murdered in some slow and silent way. Flavia also thinks about how the man whispered vale to her, and she wonders about the connection to Mr. Twining.
Flavia needs to think but cannot go to the coach house because her father or the police might be there. Instead she goes to the little cupola on the artificial island in the property’s artificial lake, which is called the Folly.
Flavia ponders the case. She thinks of Mrs. Mullet asking about the piece of custard pie. Flavia suddenly realizes that the dead man, who was a diabetic, must have eaten it. Stoker told Inspector Hewitt that “Mr. Sanders” had not eaten anything; his blood sugar must have been low, and so he helped himself to a piece of pie. After thinking about the poisons that might have been in the pie and worked quickly enough to kill the man, Flavia is left many questions: “Who put the poison in the pie? And, even more to the point, if the dead man had eaten the thing by accident, whom had it originally been intended for?” (124).
It begins to rain in droves. Flavia hears someone call out to her. A man is across the lake, and he makes his way to her. He is about her father’s age but youthful in his movements. He asks if she is all right, and Flavia says she is fine.
The man takes a waterproof cape out of his knapsack and hands it to her. Flavia thanks him, and they stand in the downpour. Flavia introduces herself, and the man identifies himself as Frank Pemberton, which Flavia recognizes as the name of the man who had just arrived at the Thirteen Drakes. Mr. Pemberton remarks that he knows who she is, as he is studying English country houses and de Luce is a famous name. He lives in London but is here to prepare a book on country estates. Mr. Pemberton asks if he can interview Flavia’s father, but she tells him that due to a sudden death, this will not be possible.
The rain stops, and Flavia says she must be going. Mr. Pemberton hopes that her father will speak to him in the future and tells Flavia it was a pleasure to meet her, saying, “In time, I trust we shall become fast friends” (127).
Chapter 11 Summary
Flavia finds Daphne in the library and asks where their father is. Daphne ignores her. Flavia grabs the wheeled ladder Daphne is sitting on and pushes it rapidly back and forth; Daphne says their father is still in his study with Inspector Hewitt. Daphne climbs off the ladder once Flavia stops moving it.
Flavia, taking advantage of Daphne’s rattled state, asks if she knows where Miss Mountjoy lives, but Daphne has no idea, as she has not used the village library since she was a child. She suggests Flavia ask Miss Cool at the confectionary.
Flavia arrives at the confectionary shop, but it is closed. Flavia recalls that Miss Cool lives behind the shop, so she goes around the back to Bolt Alley. She climbs over the low wall into Miss Cool’s backyard and knocks at the door, but there is no answer. Flavia pulls an old doghouse over to the window and climbs on top to look inside. She startles Miss Cool, who is inside the bedroom.
Miss Cool comes out, perplexed, and Flavia says the front door was locked. Miss Cool says that it is Sunday, so of course the door was locked. Miss Cool invites her inside, obviously curious about that “horrid business” at Buckshaw.
Miss Cool chats about new stamps coming in, when Flavia asks if Miss Cool knows where Miss Mountjoy lives. Flavia lies and says that Miss Mountjoy has been such a help to her at the library that she would like to get her some sweets. Though she is not supposed to sell anything on Sunday, Miss Cool agrees to sell Flavia some acid drops. She then directs Flavia to Miss Mountjoy’s house.
Miss Mountjoy’s house is painted the orange of a Death’s Head mushroom. Flavia knocks on the door but there is no answer, so she goes around back and peers in a window. Miss Mountjoy suddenly appears, holding gardeners’ shears and demanding to know what Flavia is doing there.
Flavia says that she is there to thank Miss Mountjoy for her help. Miss Mountjoy replies that she knows who Flavia is and who her father is. Flavia offers the candy bag and apologizes for her rudeness. She tells Miss Mountjoy she is sorry about how her uncle died and that it seems unfair.
Miss Mountjoy agrees that it was unfair and restates that it was murder. Flavia asks who the murderer was, and Miss Mountjoy pauses before saying, “Those loathsome, detestable boys. I shall never forget them; not for all their apple cheeks and schoolboy innocence” (138).
Flavia says one of those boys is her father, and Miss Mountjoy replies that she knows Laurence de Luce, called Jacko by even the coroner at the inquest. Flavia is surprised that her father testified at the inquest. Miss Mountjoy says that all the boys did, that Jacko insisted he was innocent of stealing the valuable stamp.
Flavia is about to insist that her father is not a liar or a thief but instead asks why Miss Mountjoy left the church that morning. Miss Mountjoy recoils, and Flavia remarks that it must have something to do with the vicar praying for the stranger. She says that she found the man’s body.
Miss Mountjoy asks if the man had red hair. When Flavia confirms that he did, Miss Mountjoy says, “For what we have received may the Lord make us truly thankful” (139). Flavia finds this peculiar and says that she does not understand.
Miss Mountjoy explains that she had recognized the man, Horace Bonepenny, coming out of the Thirteen Drakes. That is why she refused to pray for the man’s soul; she hopes that he is basting in hell. She then goes into her house and slams the door.
Flavia returns home and goes to see Dogger. He is in the greenhouse banging on a pail with a trowel. Flavia makes a loud noise to alert him of her approach. She asks about Horace Bonepenny.
Dogger begins to twitch uncontrollably, so Flavia tells him not to worry about it. Dogger tries to pull himself together and tells Flavia again that there are some questions that need to be asked, but others that do not need to be asked.
Spent, Dogger puts his head into his hands. Flavia wants to hug him but knows that would be too much for him, so she pats him on the shoulder. She tells Dogger that she will get her father to help him to his room.
Dogger, in a tragic voice, says, “They’ve taken him away, Miss Flavia. The police have taken him away” (142).
Chapter 12 Summary
Flavia finds Ophelia and Daphne crying together in the drawing room. Ophelia springs up when she sees Flavia. She says that everyone had searched for Flavia, fearing she had drowned, which Ophelia says she prayed to be true.
Daphne says that their father has been arrested. Flavia asks where he was taken, and Ophelia contemptuously says they do not know. Flavia explains that Bishop’s Lacey has only a one-room police station, whereas Hinley houses the County Constabulary. Ophelia bursts into tears, worried their father will be tried and hanged.
Flavia slips into her father’s study, alone in the room for the first time. The walls are covered with stamp albums, all color-coded to the reign of each monarch, and his supplies for mounting and examining stamps.
The desk drawers are locked. Flavia senses that the stamp she is looking for would be hidden: “Father and I shared a passion for privacy, and I realized he would never be so foolish as to put it in an obvious place” (145). Flavia searches the room but finds nothing. Recalling when her father took the Penny Black off the bird’s beak and put it in his waistcoat, she realizes that the stamp is not in the study.
Flavia sneaks into her father’s bedroom, which is dark and gloomy. She walks through to Harriet’s dressing room, which can only be accessed through her father’s bedroom and has been designated off-limits. The brightly lit room is like a shrine, with all Harriet’s possessions laid out as if she still lives there. Observing Harriet’s library of favorite books next to a chair by the window, Flavia says, “I had not read any of them, but from what I knew of Harriet, they were probably all of them books about free spirits and renegades” (149).
There is a photo album on a small table, full of pictures of Harriet as a child. Flavia is struck by how much Harriet looks like herself and her sisters.
There is a light tap on the door, and Dogger calls for her father. He sticks his head in and calls again. Flavia freezes, wondering why Dogger would look for her father. Dogger knew he was taken away, so why Dogger would expect to find him in Harriet’s dressing room? After a few moments, Dogger retreats and shuts the door, leaving Flavia to wonder if he saw her or was just pretending not to have seen her.
Flavia returns to her father’s bedroom and begins to search, but she still does not find the stamp. She considers other places it could be hidden, determined to help her father. Flavia is looking at the clocks in the room, wondering if she has time to ride to Hinley, when she realizes that one of the clocks is behind by three minutes. Flavia examines it and finds a tiny packet taped behind the pendulum. Inside is the Penny Black stamp.
Flavia closely examines the stamp and sees printing next to where its value, ONE PENNY, is printed, which are its two-letter identifiers. With the additions, it reads B ONE PENNY H. Flavia is shocked, realizing that this spells out Bonepenny H, the name of the dead man. The jack snipe left with this stamp was a “threat that Father had taken in and understood at first glance” (155). Flavia returns the stamp to its hiding place, then rides Gladys toward Hinley.
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
Flavia’s family, Roman Catholics for centuries, attends the church in Bishop’s Lacey, which is affiliated with the Church of England. This gives an interesting look at religion in the English countryside at this time. England’s history is full of tension and violence between Catholics and Protestants, but it appears that connections and money overcome prejudices. When the congregation complained that Flavia’s family attended the church, her father smoothed things over with an appropriately large donation and told the vicar, “Tell them we may not be praying with them […] but we are at least not actively praying against them” (115).
Even then, their outsider status still caused some uneasiness. Ophelia once tried to take communion but was pulled back by their father and regularly admonished from trying again. Perhaps Ophelia wanted to be like the other villagers, not separated by religious affiliation. Daphne once created a mild scandal by telling the church organist that Harriet had said that the story of the Flood was derived from a racial memory of the cat family, due to routine drownings of kittens. Another donation was required to deal with that.
While Flavia and her family are attending Sunday services, her mind is still on the mystery of the murdered man in the garden. She listens to one part of the service, from the Book of Common Prayer: “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done” (116). To Flavia, this sounds remarkably similar to Dogger’s words about some things needing to be known, while other things do not need to be known. This is striking to Flavia because she is naturally curious, the kind of person who needs to know all things.
When she heads to the Folly to think, this gives another look at how particularly prestigious and venerable the de Luce family is:
“There was a family tradition that it had been on a picnic at Buckshaw Folly that John Montague, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, invented the snack which was given his name when he first slapped cold grouse between two slices of bread while playing at cribbage with Cornelius de Luce” (122).
There are many such references to the family’s long and esteemed history.
As Flavia continues in her investigation, she seeks more information from Miss Mountjoy, who abruptly left the church service when the dead man was mentioned. Flavia learns that the de Luce family name helped protect her father from the inquisition that followed Mr. Twining death: “He said it ever so softly at the inquest, almost caressingly—as if all the court were in thrall with the name” (139). Miss Mountjoy still feels great bitterness that money and influence shielded the boys she thought responsible for her uncle’s death.
After Flavia finds out that her father has been arrested for the murder, she searches for the stamp that was stuck through the dead bird’s beak. Stamps are her father life and his escape from the world, which he finds unbearable after the death of his wife. His obsession with stamps separates Flavia’s father from his daughters, both physically and mentally. On a few occasions, Flavia’s father tries to bring his children into his world by lecturing them on the subject at the breakfast table, but Flavia and her sisters remain on the outside. Flavia reflects:
“Apart from those rare occasions, we were all of us, my sisters and me, babes in the wood when it came to postage stamps, while Father puttered on, mounting bits of colored paper with more fearsome relish than some men mount the heads of stags and tigers” (145).
When Flavia does not find the stamp in her father’s study, she sneaks into his bedroom, where only her father ever goes. The curtains are drawn, which Flavia has seen from the outside; “[f]rom inside, it possessed all the gloom of a museum after hours” (146). The room is dreary, with little personality to distinguish it as someone’s bedroom.
This is in direct contrast to Harriet’s dressing room, which is held strictly off-limits to the family by her father. Harriet’s room “was awash in light. […] The dresser top was laid out with brushes and combs by Fabergé, as if Harriet had just stepped into the adjoining room for a bath” (147-48). Flavia’s father has maintained his late wife’s dressing room as a kind of museum or shrine, refusing to let it be cleaned out or changed in any way.
Flavia feels enchanted and amazed by the discovery of her mother’s dressing room. She takes a whiff of Harriet’s perfume and is awash with emotion: “A peculiar feeling passed over me—or, rather, through me, as if I were an umbrella remembering what it felt like to pop open in the rain” (148). Scent is a very primal sensory experience, so somewhere in Flavia’s subconscious is a recognition of her mother’s scent.
Flavia then finds a photo album, in which all the pictures are of her mother alone. She sees herself and her sisters’ faces in the pictures from Harriet’s childhood, and especially in the pictures of her as a young adult. Flavia is again struck by this feeling of connection, so dearly craved, with her mother.
Flavia is shocked by Dogger’s appearance when he sticks his head into the dressing room, calling for her father. She wonders why Dogger would seek her father there, but it is likely an indication of Dogger’s expectations. Flavia’s father must regularly spend time in the dressing room, sitting with the mementos of his late wife.
Through a clever observation that one of the clocks in her father’s bedroom is three minutes behind the others, Flavia finally finds the Penny Black stamp. After she sees how the letters on the stamp spell out “B ONE PENNY H,” the name of the dead man, the mystery of her father’s reaction to the dead jack snipe is solved: “Impaled on the jack snipe’s bill (Yes! Father’s schoolboy nickname had been ‘Jacko’!), the stamp had served as calling card and death threat” (155).
