The Manservant

March 1, 2015

What does the Savile Row firm of Gieves & Hawkes purvey? Who supplies Her Majesty the Queen with knickers? (Hint it's not Marks & Spencer.) If you're manservant to a masochistic noble, when exactly is it your turn to wear the French maid's outfit? Answers to these and other questions you may never have asked yourself are provided in this absolutely fabulous gay romance by an author who is described as "one of the UK's most sought after private chefs" and so presumably has insider dope on Britain's plummiest elites. At the start of the novel, our hero, Anthony Gowers, is dismissed for good and scandalous reason from the employ of a London hotel. Incredibly handsome, and with no gag reflex to speak of, he lands securely on his knees as Lord Shanderson's manservant at Castle Beadle, where he's showered with Mini Coopers and loads of long-stemmed white roses. What seems like a dream job, however, quickly and predictably turns horribly wrong before Tony learns that knights don't always arrive on white chargers but sometimes in black taxis. VERDICT This breezy debut confection is Downton Abbey as seen through the gimlet eyes of Thomas Barrow and will help while away that next afternoon you're awaiting your fitting at Gieves & Hawkes.--Bob Lunn, Kansas City, MO

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