The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

In this book Flavia de Luce, an 11 year old with a passion for chemistry who's not overly burdened by adult supervision starts out to solve a current mystery, which she quickly discovers is wrapped in a much older one. Flavia is inventive and curious. She works silently alongside the police to uncover the mystery. Generally, she seems to manage very believably for a child and the setting of the book (rural England in the 1950s) offers a rich background upon which for the story to unfold. I'm definitely looking forward to continuing this series.