I'm not an expert, but to me this book and its predecessor is just quintessentially English. I've been a fan of Truss' non-fiction for years, and always found her writing and wit excellent, and I genuinely enjoyed her first Constable Twitten book A Shot in the Dark. So I snapped up this sequel as soon as I heard about it.

If you've ever watched Yes, Minster, or Black Adder, or even Benny Hill, and laughed, you may enjoy this mystery series. But you absolutely have to suspend disbelief because there's a lot of silliness and dry mockery; the reward is not only the chance to be amused in a time of little amusement, but an impressive, intricately plotted mystery. There were so many balls in the air, and Truss kept them all up there without any apparent effort or stumbling. It started slow for me, but it gained momentum as this complexity revealed itself.

A lot of fun and I remain a big fan of Truss. ( )

This is a comic crime spree yarn with several intertwined plots and stories set in 1957 Brighton.
when that seaside city was a paradise of honky tonk and sleaze. It is the sequel to "A Shot in the Dark", the debut of the Constable Twitten series. Twitten is a new addition to the Brighton Constabulary and keen to do a good job. There's a mass of scams and schemes, including a murder, to occupy the Constabulary's time As Constable Twitten observes: "There are so many things going on, Mrs. G! I think it might be literally impossible to sort them all out!" Despite that observation, by the end of the book, things are sorted out due mostly to the efforts of Twitten and the police station charlady, Mrs. Groynes, who doubles as the local crime kingpin. Along the way readers are treated to the antics of an ensemble cast of dodgy characters.

This Twitten series is in many respects like M.C. Beaton's Constable Hamish Macbeth one, with its comic style of writing. Twitten is likely more ambitious than Macbeth and his superiors are more clueless than those of Macbeth.

In sum, it's a fun, easy-to-read romp with a satisfying ending. Twitten and Mrs. Groynes carry the story and explore how they can co-exist in future endeavours. The debut naturally introduced most of the recurring characters (such as Inspector Steine and Sergeant Brunswick) to readers, but this sequel can be read as a standalone without difficulty.

I requested and received an advance reading copy of this book from Bloomsbury USA Publishing, via Netgalley. The comments about it are my own. ( )

Interesting set of characters, good story, just a little too English for my tastes. Live the fact that the crime lord is a char lady in the police station. ( )

In the summer in Brighton crime is to the fore. Whilst holidaymakers bask in the sunshine, the Brighton Belles try to lure them to spend money in the attractions and then a young man is found dead in a deckchair. Finding links to a local crime family Constable Twitten is thwarted in his attempts to investigate by his superiors and the police charlady. Twitten knows she is criminal mastermind but no-one believes him.
I found it really hard to engage with this book. Partly because I hadn't read the first instalment and that was really needed, and partly because it is very complicated and quirky. I suspect a second reading would make me change my mind! ( )