Blotto and Twinks Books

Praise for Simon Brett: "Brett is a master at subtle characterization, superb setting, and plotting in which his characters solve themselves in the process of solving murders."--Booklist When ex-Princess Etheline, daughter of the exiled king of Mitteleuropia, is kidnapped while visiting the seat of the Dukes of Tawcester, the duchess sends her son "Blotto" to rescue her. But Blotto isn't as bright as his sister "Twinks." Simon Brett is the author of over thirty mystery novels and seven plays. He is married with three children and lives near Arundel in West Sussex, England.

The extremely aristocratic but extremely thick Blotto and his extremely brainy sister Twinks are attending a weekend house party when the inevitable happens. Their hostess, the Dowager Duchess of Melmont, is murdered. An amateur detective, conveniently staying for the weekend, deduces that the Lyminster family chauffeur Corky Froggett must have done it. For Blotto and Twinks, the only way to prove Corky's innocence is by finding the real perpetrator. So begins the second investigation for the daring duo...one which takes them via an opium den in Limehouse, a Scottish castle and a disused Cornish tin mine, to a thrilling final confrontation at the nerve-centre of the evil League of the Crimson Hand. Yes, Blotto and Twinks are back! Praise for Simon Brett: 'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' - P D James. 'Murder most enjoyable' - Colin Dexter. 'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to anyone' - Jilly Cooper. 'Few crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' - Sunday Times. 'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen...Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' - "Guardian".

Someone has stolen valuable paintings from Tawcester Towers, ancestral home of Blotto and his sister, Twinks. Twinks tracks the thieves to France and she and Blotto go zipping off to Paris―where they have rather a jolly time with the Left Bank bohemian set―but before the hangovers can take hold Twinks has redirected the search to the Riviera, headquarters of that dastardly criminal mastermind, la Puce! Will the noble Blotto and the brilliant Twinks recover their paintings, vanquish la Puce, and rescue the kidnapped film star we neglected to mention'

Due to financial hardships at Tawcester Towers, the Dowager Duchess has decreed that the only way the family fortunes can be restored is to marry Blotto off - to an American! The aristocratic sleuthing siblings end up being transported across the Pond to the gangster-ridden hell-hole that is Prohibition Chicago.

The curse of Pharaoh Sinus Nefertop is upon Tawcester Towers so it's up to Blotto and Twinks to banish it! Yet another financial crisis at Tawcester Towers! So this time the Dowager Duchess decides to sell off the less important family possessions, which have, for a long time, been consigned to the attics of the ancestral home. Blotto and Twinks are dispatched to help the valuer as he carries out an inspection. Not much of any worth is found but then the valuer spies some Egyptian artifacts, collected by the tenth duke, Rupert the Egyptologist. In some excitement he rushes back to London to consult his reference books, leaving Blotto and Twinks alone in the attic, where they are drawn to a sarchophagus decorated with hieroglyphs. Twinks starts to translate: 'Anyone who desecrates this shrine will be visited by the Pharoah's curse...' - just as Corky Froggett prises the lid off. From that moment on a series of unpleasant incidents start happening at Tawcester Towers and it seems that Corkey Froggett has been struck down by the Curse. It's the brainy Twinks who discovers that the only thing to be done is to put the genie back in the bottle and so she, together with Blotto and their trusty chauffeur Corky Froggett, undertake take the sarcophagus back to Egypt, to the Valley of the Kings as only when this is done will the effect of the Pharoah's curse be lifted...

Tawcester Towers, the family seat of the Lyminster family, has suffered an unwelcome injection of distant cousins, so distant that they aren't even British! Count Igor and Count Lyudmilla Bashusky had to flee Russia after the Revolution and have spent the intervening years building up debts in the hotels of Europe's capitals and sponging off ever more exasperated (and distant) relatives. The Bashusky's arrival at Tawcester Towers causes a stir, and it's up to Blotto and Twinks, that indefatigable duo, to provide a solution to get them back to Russia. Reversing the Russian Revolution and getting a Tsar back into St. Petersburg's Winter Palace is just the sort of challenge the fiercely bright Twinks relishes, though her dim-witted brother, Blotto, shows less aptitude for the subtleties of international politics, despite his commendable bravery. The siblings soon find themselves in Berlin to try to broker a meeting with the White Russian community, and swiftly become embroiled in a world of spies, counterspies, conspiracies, and counter-conspiracies. Just when things seem to be looking up, little do Blotto and Twinks realize that their plans are being monitored by the spymaster, Fyodor Vlachko, a former worker on the Bushusky's estate who has now risen to a senior post in the secret police of the newly-formed Soviet Union.

A quick trip to the capital goes horribly wrong when Blotto and Twinks get accidentally involved in London's criminal underworld . . . It starts innocently enough at the intimate review 'absolutely everyone is talking about', Light and Frothy , where its glamorous star, Frou Frou Gavotte, has rather taken the fancy of Blotto's school friend Giles 'Whiffler' Trumpington. But while Blotto and Whiffler wait for the star outside the theatre to take her to dinner, Whiffler is seized and manhandled into the back of a cab which then drives off into the night . . . Leaving Blotto with the problem of how to rescue his kidnapped schoolmate. Naturally, he enlists Twinks's help and the two of them encounter actors, singers, impresarios, revue writers, cockney showgirls and Scotland Yard's finest - and white slave traders, who succeed in abducting Twinks - leaving it up to Blotto and his trusty chauffeur, Corky Froggett, to rescue her before she's shipped off to foreign parts forever . . . Praise for Simon Brett 'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter 'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian 'Few crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times 'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to anyone' Jilly Cooper

Once again, the plumbing at Tawcester Towers is causing consternation for the Dowager Duchess, so - unusually for her - she gives her blessing for Blotto to take part in the 'Great Road Race' in his beloved Lagonda ... so long as he wins. The first prize of 10,000 pre-War sovereigns will help towards repairing the leaky ancestral home. Blotto elects to take chauffeur Corky Froggett as his spare mechanic, while Twinks is despatched by her mother to the Highlands, to paint water colours and bag herself a wealthy husband. But, on the morning of the race's start, enfeebled by food poisoning, Blotto and Corky are forced to employ an extra mechanic on their team - a slender, blonde and rather attractive young American... named Ronald. So Blotto and his team are pitted against Europe's finest, in a race which takes them through France, across the Alps, to a finish line at the Colosseum in Rome. Among the competitors are Florian Carré-Dagneau, indulged son of the race sponsors, Count Daspoontz from Germany, and the Italian Enrico Parmigiano-Reggiano. All want to win the race, and all want the prize money and all - with the exception of Blotto and his team - will resort to dastardly deception and fiendish sabotage to ensure Blotto's Lagonda is not the first car over the finishing line...

'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter Anyone for cricket - and a spot of burglary? An idle conversation on the merits of the glorious game with an old Etonian chum is just the excuse Blotto needs to put himself forward for a cricket tour to foreign climes... and so begins the next adventure for our intrepid duo, where the action takes them to India where, as everyone knows, the finest cricket players hail from - as well as the world's most skilled jewel thieves... The Dowager Duchess has no problems in letting her two children go to the subcontinent as having her beautiful daughter Twinks married off to a massively rich Maharaja offers the Dowager Duchess the prospect of a permanent solution to the cash-draining maintenance of the Tawcester Towers plumbing. So Twinks joins Blotto on a steamer bound for India, one that is full of young woman desperate to marry well there - only once having encountered the dashing Blotto, a lot of them fancy the idea of getting married before they reach their destination. And, unbeknownst to the siblings, also on the ship is the international jewel thief Archie Montmorency, passing himself off as one of Blotto's cricketing entourage. His real mission though is to steal the diamond which adorns the turban the Maharajah of Koorbleimee . . . Praise for Simon Brett 'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian 'Few crime writers are so e nchantingly gifted ' Sunday Times 'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to anyone' Jilly Cooper

'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter 'What? You mean the earl does it for money? That's way beyond the barbed wire!' This explosion of disgust from Blotto is provoked when Twinks informs him of the activities of the Earl of Woking. The gentleman in question is owner of Clusters, a stately home not far from Tawcester Towers, and he has been renting out parts of Clusters for private functions - and charging his guests! The discovery of this appalling lapse in aristocratic behaviour sets Blotto and Twinks off on their latest adventure. Determined to find out more about the Earl of Woking's activities, they discover the existence of a sinister group called Aristotours - brokers between impoverished owners of stately homes and the common people, offering 'a taste of the high life' to characters such as stockbrokers, surgeons and solicitors. And if this were not bad enough, the siblings discover Aristotours trying to infiltrate their evil practises into Tawcester Towers itself! So Blotto and Twinks set off on a quest to identify - and stop - the evil genius behind Aristotours.

'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter The latest hair-raising adventure featuring the aristocratic brother and sister sleuthing duo! Praise for Simon Brett 'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian 'Few crime writers are so e nchantingly gifted ' Sunday Times 'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to anyone' Jilly Cooper

'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter Blotto and Twinks are off on another adventure - and this time they're bound for the Alpine village of Luzvimmen in Switzerland, where Blotto participates in racing the prestigious and very fast Croissant Run, though someone seems determined to sabotage his chances. Twinks, on the other hand, is on a mission to rescue her friend's sister from the sinister finishing school she is trapped in - the Convent of the Sacred Icicle. Once inside, Twinks is threatened by an elderly nun who shows her a secret glacier in which the Phantom Skiers are entombed... awaiting resurrection so they can wreak vengeance on people who are too curious... like Blotto and Twinks. Meanwhile, up at Schloss Luzvimmen, the crazed Count von Strapp is set on global domination via a deadly arsenal of Swiss cheese hardware he's planning to unleash on the world... Yes, everything's much as usual in the world of Blotto and Twinks Praise for Simon Brett 'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian 'Few crime writers are so e nchantingly gifted ' Sunday Times 'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to anyone' Jilly Cooper