The Maze (painting) it undigestible. The skull in the painting has been opened up by ribbon, to suggest the work of the doctors at the mental hospital, attempting to make a proper diagnosis. Kurelek depicted the rat spirit as inert, unwilling to leave his prison even though it has been opened up for him. This was Kurelek's way of showing his doctors what their job was. He writes, in his autobiography, "Now clean me out, I challenge you scientists, and put me back together again - a happy, balanced, mature, fulfilled personality. Lift that rat out and unwind him and let him run
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie as well, suggesting that readers "may come away with a slightly altered view of what is possible for a headstrong girl to achieve." The writing style in "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" has been described as reminiscent of the "Golden Age of crime writing," influenced by the author's appreciation for the work of Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie, G. K. Chesterton, W. J. Burley, and Josephine Tey. Reviewer Lucy Clark compared Bradley's style to that of Agatha Christie, calling "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" a "delightfully old-fashioned mystery." "Kirkus