No one talks like that. The invented expressions and manner of conversation was most annoying.

I didn't expect to enjoy this book.It is silly on a funny way.The author takes time in mocking the British aristocracy of early 20th century.
Blotto is a reminder of Bertie Wooster (the Jeeves and Wooster series by P.G.Wodehouse). Also in a way I felt that the Author was further inspired by some of the characters in the 'Her Royal Spyness ' series.
The plot was a little weak.But the silliness of it all let's the author get away with this weakness. It's a pity that Simon Brett doesn't write more comedy books.
There is one point I really don't understand in many mystery novels :why do the murderers kill off those that give information to the protagonists and not shoot off the protagonists altogether? I know it's part of 'Novel reality',but still it bugs me.

Very silly, but lots of fun. If you want a light hearted read, this is a good choice.

Fun, silly, perfect for late night bedtime reading when my brain can't fully engage. (If I was rating the book with regards to that capacity, 5 stars! But I don't want to misleadingly put it in Middlemarch range, just because it's a fun light read.

I've been warned that these books are silly by my bookseller, but the author knows they are silly (which is quite a different feeling from unintentionally silly), and of course one's tolerance for intentional silliness varies. Some of it gets a bit wearying (the constant supposedly posh slang that I assume is entirely invented), but other bits were delightful (at one point, faced with quite a pickle of a cliffhanger, the author begins the next chapter with something like "after getting out of that, Blotto and Twinks continued on their way ..." (I'm paraphrasing) which I thought was perfect, an authorial equivalent of Indiana Jones' shooting his way out of a tense stand-off.

I was alarmed at some startling Chinese stereotyping, until it turned out it was actual Chinese stereotyping as a plot point in the book--hard to explain without spoilers, but it's fine once you realise what's happening.

And I'll happily read the next one. So a high 3 from me.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

Book 20 of 52

Quick easy read full of lovely satire and a beautifully utterly unbelievable story line with over-done characters. So much fun to read for the fan of Agatha Christie and P.G. Wodehouse in me. Also helped somewhat fill the Downton Abbey shaped hole in my life.

A silly pastiche but fun. Will read more.

Disappointing. I love Brett, and I love Charles Paris (I enjoy the Fethering series, but not as much as Charles). But this was unreadable. Clearly trying to take off of Wodehouse etc., but not succeeding.

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

This is a bad imitation of Wodehouse, and I can only believe that readers who like Simon Brett are just sadly unaware that Wodehouse exists. They should be informed immediately. And someone should inform Brett that throwing around a lot of made-up words doesn't make one clever.