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Simon Brett, the prolific writer of British mysteries that often mix murder and humor, has a new series featuring brother and sister Blotto and Twinks -- and this one is full-on fun. Blotto (real name Devereux Lyminster) is a handsome but very dim-witted son of British aristrocrats. His sister Twinks (or Lady Honoria Lyminster) is the brains of the family. When Blotto finds a body in the library of their country manor, Tawcester Towers, they call in police. But really, we all know that it will be Blotto and Twinks (mostly Twinks) who will solve this case. After all, Chief Inspector Trumbull is nowhere near up to the task. As Simon Brett writes, Trumbull "had not been at the front of the queue when the intellect was handed out. Indeed, he appeared not to have been in the same country." The body in the library is Captain Schtoltz, who had been visiting Tawcester Towers with King Sigismund, the former ruler of Mitteleuropia, who was overthrown in a coup by his own brother, the vile Vlatislav. In piecing together the clues, Twinks puts even Sherlock to shame. Looking at carpet fibers, she determines that they "are from the same carpet. It's a Turkish fine-weave, probably manufactured in the workshop of the Hassan brothers in the village of Akgurglu just to the south of Izmir, and almost definitely originally bought from the emporium of their cousin Mustapha Khalid on the Golden Alley of the main Istanbul souk." Another murder follows, and then the kidnapping of the ex-king's daughter, ex-Princess Ethelinde. This takes Blotto and Twinks to Mitteleuropia, where they face all sorts of danger, including, for Blotto, the possibility of marriage. If you're looking for a straight mystery, this is not it. This is a comedic romp - a sort of long Monty Pythonesque skit that incorporates dungeons, a femme fatale and even cricket. It's light fun - and a nice break when you've had enough of serial killers, hard-boiled plots and alcohol-dependent detectives. § Lourdes Venard is a newspaper editor in Long Island, N.Y.
Reviewed by Lourdes Venard, February 2011
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