Brett, Simon. Blotto, Twinks, and the Ex-King’s Daughter. Blotto and Twinks No. 1. Constable, 2009.
Simon Brett has a wry wit that only the English seem to produce. He is a denizen of the BBC and writer of several better-than-average series of mystery novels. In addition, science fiction fans like me owe him a debt of gratitude for producing the pilot episode of the radio series based on Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The Blotto and Twinks series, which has grown to 10 novels, sends up the English cozy mystery and nostalgia for the early twentieth-century English aristocracy along with it. Blotto and Twinks are the 20-something children of a ducal family. Blotto is the dimwitted heir whose only real interests are cricket and fox hunting, which had only been made illegal in England five years before the first Blotto and Twinks book, Blotto, Twinks, and the Ex-King’s Daughter, was published. He is only fluent when he has memorized a speech provided by his sister. The Duchess wants him to marry, but his tongue-tied innocence makes him relatively safe from having to tie the knot. His sister, Honoria, a.k.a. Twinks, is pretty, bright, and eager to solve crimes before the dimwitted police mess up the crime scene. It is all as silly as a Monty Python episode, and its plot would be right at home in one. Is it fun? You bet. 4 stars. ( )

A great fun, silly piece of summer fluff is how to describe this book. Blotto and Twinks are brother and sister sleuths. Blooto has the brawn, Twinks the brains (and good looks, a dangerous combination in a woman!)and they have the good luck to stumble onto a dead body in the family library. With family honor at stake and a completely inept police department, it's up to the brother and sister team to save the Ex-Kings daughter after she is kidnapped and unmask the murder. A fun read with a few well placed digs at the values of the ruling class. ( )

Always game for farce and fun a la Wodehouse and ever on the lookout for a new mystery series, I had real hopes for this book being a lark. It wasn't. The jokes wore thin before the second half. Some of what was supposed to be funny just wasn't. Too bad. ( )

Always game for farce and fun a la Wodehouse and ever on the lookout for a new mystery series, I had real hopes for this book being a lark. It wasn't. The jokes wore thin before the second half. Some of what was supposed to be funny just wasn't. Too bad. ( )