How bad could burst pipes be for a manse? The Dowager Duchess--Mama to Blotto and Twinks--finds out, when water floods the hall of portraits, and her empty coffers means no plumber, no restoration and, soon, no Tawcester Towers! Mama's repair plan is simple: marry Blotto off to a wealthy American. In Blotto, Twinks and the Bootlegger's Moll, Simon Brett's fourth Blotto and Twinks madcap mystery, the siblings take an ocean liner to the States--and get into more trouble than even superannuated plumbing rained down.
The Duchess is a quick thinker, and by the time she's revealed her plan, she's already selected the heir to the Chapstick family meat-packing fortune to be the dashing but thick Blotto's bride. Since his idea of bliss is a rousing cricket game rather than marriage, he turns as always to his brilliant sister. Twink comforts her brother all the way to Chicago, where she sets to work orchestrating a cancellation of the nuptials. Alas, Mary Chapstick adores Blotto, her father is eager to link the family with British aristocracy and mobster Spagsy Chiaparelli and his speakeasy chanteuse Choxy Mulligan both take an interest in Blotto, though for different reasons. While Choxy thinks he's a dreamboat, Spagsy wants to know if Blotto is "Cosa Nostra," to which the clueless chap replies, "No, Church of England."
Overcoming her brother's dim wit, the mob and a close call near the Chapstick factory's machinery, Twinks saves the day--and, in the end, even Mama wins. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, bookseller, Book Passage, San Francisco