After You with the Pistol

Simon Prebble's Charlie Mordecai ("I have always sneered in a well-bred way") exudes British upper-class decadence as the amoral aristocratic art dealer is drawn by forces beyond his control (including lust and a deal with the authorities) into marriage and an international smuggling ring The dapper Mordecai succumbs to Prebble's husky-voiced Johanna at every turn--dabbling in regicide, an almost all-female combat training college, and a drug-delivery journey to Chicago that lands him in the nick. The lugubrious Jock, manservant-thug with an intellect "second to almost anyone," is a delight, especially as he rescues Mordecai from a pet food factory and other travails. Hilarious, bawdy fare. D.P.D. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine