Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter

December 20, 2010
P.G. Wodehouse fans will welcome Brett's zany first in a new series set between the wars among the English aristocracy. When Blotto (aka Devereux Lyminster), the impossibly handsome but slow-witted son of the duchess of Tawcester (pronounced "Taster"), reports that he's found a dead body in the library of the ancestral home, Tawcester Towers, his mother replies, "Not now, Blotto. We have guests." Blotto seeks his highly intelligent sister, Twinks, an amateur detective, for help with this "it of bother in the library," but since she's still changing after playing tennis, Grimshaw, the butler, deals with the matter instead. Later, Blotto overhears a conversation about a plot to kidnap the daughter of one of the house guests, the ex-king of Mitteleuropia. Together Blotto and Twinks embark on a quest to discover the killer's identity and to prevent the kidnapping. Brett puts a hilarious spin on the traditional British mystery.

Starred review from February 15, 2011
Bretts latest is a complete wowthink of Cleopatra rolling out of a carpet before an astonished Caesar; think of the Chicago Bears Devin Hester outrunning everyone on the field; think of what Broadways Spiderman would be like if the stunts actually worked. Brett has written clever mysteries since the 1970s, first with backstage whodunits starring the amateur sleuth, failing actor, and flourishing alcoholic Charles Paris; then with the cozy crime series starring the inhabitants of the seaside village of Fethering. The Paris mysteries are darkly comic; the Fethering series is more straightforward cozy, but both showcase Bretts uncanny skill at filleting the craven and the pompous. But this first entry in a new series is just about completely comic in an ebullient yet still sardonic, P. G. Wodehouse way. Brett re-creates the aristocratic world of Wodehouse and Dorothy Sayers piece by piecethe initial setting is a country estate in the carefree era of the 1920s, complete with clueless aristocrats, savvy servants, and visiting exiled royalty. Brett even has the audacity to announce, straight off, that a body has been found in the library. The daughter of Tawcester Towers, Twinks, who has all the brains in the family, convinces her incredibly handsome but quite dense brother, Blotto, that they should investigate from the point where the incompetent local constabulary have left off. Their investigation uncovers a kidnapping and more murders. Its a breakneck plot in the Restoration comedy mold, absolutely bullet-riddled with Wodehouseian wit. Bretts best yetand thats saying something.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)