What would we do for cozies without the myth of the prewar English aristocracy? Nobody has more fun with it than Simon Brett. Here’s the formula: Take some country estates and exaggerated characters that would be at home in a P. G. Wodehouse novel. Kill off a dowager duchess. Bring on the brother and sister team of Blotto (dumb but carries a handy cricket bat) and Twinks (sharp as a tack and devastatingly beautiful). They use methods from Agatha Christie (think Tommy and Tuppence more than Miss Marple), Arthur Conan Doyle, and Sax Rohmer (Dr. Fu Manchu) to get in and out of trouble and eventually solve the mystery. Delightful.
Here is the first sentence: “If there was one thing Blotto (properly known as the Honorable Devereaux Lyminster) didn’t like about weekend house parties, it was the inevitable gathering-together of a large number of people with dark secrets in their past, along with the tiresome near-certainty that one of them would get murdered.” ( )

I couldn't hack the expositiony beginning. A PGW tribute deserves more verve!

Not a bad story line, The "upper class" language between the characters was annoying to me. This is the first Simon Brett book I have ever read. I am not certain I want to dive this well known author another chance. The time I spent reading this book is time I can never get back to use for a different author that has written a truly enjoyable book, ( )

This is a new series for me, set in the 1920's, England.... It was fast paced, full of excitement & adventure, but it was also full of upper-class slang which felt "affected" to me....
Blotto & Twinks are brother and sister, although Twinks is the younger of the two, she is by far the most intelligent & enterprising. So far they have avoided marriage like the plague, but it might not be possible for Blotto to remain a bachelor for long.
His mother has connived a long weekend invitation from a rival who has a daughter well enamored of Blotto. In the course of the weekend the hostess is found dead in the kitchen garden with a large red hand in paint on her back, and the footman has taken a very abrupt leave, Blotto's great friend & driver is arrested for the crime, and the Poirot-like detective is there for the opening scenes (Brett uses him a point of slur against Christie/Poirot) but later is nowhere a round.
Blotto & Twinks find the footman in an Opium Den as they question him about the Red Hand, he is shot through the head....... Blotto & Twinks are attacked, the Opium Den burns to the ground & the attackers turn out to be white men w/ painted yellow faces & wigs.
The chase begins and as Blotto & Twinks get nearer to the solution, it becomes clear that a group known as the Red Thumb/Hand (I forget) is out to stage some heinous feat towards the government.
Now here's what I didn't understand: Why was the Dowager Duchess killed? What if anything did that have to do w/ the Red Hand/Thumb group? The language! The fact that men were entranced by Twinks, but Blotto only cared about his car & cricket bats? The Poirotesque detective who was there only for purpose of derision aimed at Christie?
It just seemed like a merry mad-cap romp that really had no real plot or substantial characters (unlike Phryne or Tommy/Tuppence), so I marked it down 1 star. ( )

Eh. It kind of seems to be a weird parody version of Wodehouse - but it's so over the top and devoid of any bite that I can't help but wonder if the author actually intends it to be serious. Won't be reading more. ( )