Who is like Flavia de Luce?

After you find The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, what’s left but the plate?

If you loved Alan Bradley’s child sleuth Flavia de Luce as much as I did, you can’t help feeling bereft at the end of this brilliantly funny “cozy” mystery in which she prevents a family catastrophe – the conviction of her father for murder – using chemistry, Sherlockian intellect and superior verbal skills to unmask a killer. Of course, you will then rush out and get The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, another mystery delivered in Flavia’s unique and hilarious narrative voice, during which she wages her personal war against her two older sisters while seeking a puppeteer’s killer aboard her trusty bike, Gladys. After this second mystery, if you are looking for more of the same, try these:

Lucy and Milo, 11-year-old twins with superior mental capacity, belong to a family that prefers to ignore its dysfunction in Thank You for All Things by Sandra Kring. When their single mother is forced to take the family from Chicago to her rural childhood home, a gargantuan family secret cannot prevail over Lucy’s photographic memory and Mito’s intellect. Like Flavia, Lucy has a clever, unusual way of describing the adult world with a black-and-white view of morality.

Another author with a gift for the child voice and family dysfunction is Kate Atkinson, whose Behind the Scenes in the Museum is making a comeback. Ruby’s story begins at conception –in her words, “I exist!” Does she ever. Set in York, in an ancient apartment over the Lennox family’s pet shop, a dark secret emerges as Ruby tells the story of her family’s philandering history and unique personalities. While Ruby’s story takes a serious turn, her voice is so similar to Flavia’s and her family issues are so amusingly similarto the de Luces that you will smile fondly in recognition from line one.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman is a bittersweet Southern charmer of a novel you won’t soon forget. Cecelia Rose Honeycutt got the short end of the straw when they were handing out parents: her mother, the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen and her long-suffering distant father lack even the most rudimentary parenting skills. Like Roald Dahl’s Matilda, it’s apparent that CeeCee is in charge of herself.   Luckily her Aunt Tootie down in Savannah whisks her away to a better, if even wackier, life among good Southern women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind. Hoffman brings out the unique personalities of her characters – even the bit players – and from the slug slingers to the historical society, they’re unforgettable. If you enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, don’t miss this one!