Teaser Tuesday: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

It is inevitable that as soon as I say that I am possibly that last blogger alive to read this book, there will be a chorus of people saying 'I haven't read it yet", but I am going to say it anyway....

I am possibly one of the last bloggers to read this first book in the Flavia de Luce series written by Alan Bradley. I had borrowed the book a few times from the library, but returned it unread. Last night I was checking my list and realised that I was in danger of repeating that pattern, so so decided to read it once and far all. Now the question to be asked is ... what on earth was I waiting for?

For my teaser this week, I wanted to share a passage from the early part of the book (page 27). Flavia has already displayed the precociousness that she is infamous for, but the humour has also been on display as well. This is a lot longer than the two sentences that are normal for a Teaser Tuesday post, but more about that later. To put a little context around the section, Flavia has just discovered a body in the cucumber patch and she has just led Inspector Hewitt and his two policemen to the body:

I stepped forward eagerly, almost salivating, for a closer look.

"I wonder, Flavia," Inspector Hewitt said, stepping gingerly into the cucumbers, "if you might ask someone to organise some tea?"

He must have seen the look on my face.

"We've had rather an early start this morning. Do you think you could manage to rustle something up?"

So that was it. As at a birth, so at a death. Without so much as a kiss-me-quick-and-mind-the-marmalade, the only female in sight is enlisted to trot off and see that the water is boiled. Rustle something up, indeed! What did he take me for ... some kind of cowboy?

"I'll see what can be arranged, Inspector," I said. Coldly, I hoped.

"Thank you," Inspector Hewitt said. Then, as I stamped off towards the kitchen door, he called out, "Oh, and Flavia ..."

I turned, expectantly.

"We'll come in for it. No need for you to come out here again."

The nerve! The bloody nerve!

I have another couple of quotes to share at some point too. The book is actually chock full of gems!

I have been trying to decide what I wanted to do about Teaser Tuesday. I have been participating in the meme, which is hosted at Should Be Reading, for about two and a half years, and I do still enjoy doing so, but I don't seem to have as much time to be able to go and visit as many of the other participants. It hardly seems fair for me to put my link up expecting others to come and comment on my post when I know full well that I probably won't get to theirs!

The other thing is that often I want to provide a longer tease, like the one above, or I want to actually expand a little bit more on my thoughts about, post teasers from multiple books etc. I guess what I am saying is that I want to move away a little bit from the standard format!

Therefore, if I find a teaser which fits the standard format, then I will link up to the meme and make an effort to connect up with the other participants, but if not, then I will just post whatever, something completely different like a Top 10 Tuesday or maybe not even post anything on a Tuesday at all like last week! Wouldn't that be a shock to the system!