Kyril Bonfiglioli (1928–1985)

Alcoholic, unethical, and having received a good, if abusive, British education, Charlie Mordecai is an art historian who writes on the subject and facilitates sales of great art. But he's also willing to dabble in blackmail and murder.
In this first of the series, Mordecai is persuaded, through extreme torture, to travel across America in a Rolls Silver Ghost that will be delivered to the man who is the hit.
If you enjoy the snappy British dialogue of Wooster and Jeeves but would like it raunchier and more violent, Mordecai is a fun alternative.… (mais)

The second of Bonfigliolis' Mortdecai books picks up immediately from the first, with the dissolute and shady art dealer in the clutches of various agencies who wish him harm. He manages to extricate himself by promising to marry the gorgeous Johanna and keep tabs on her activities.

Johanna manipulates Mortdecai into a series of increasingly dubious activities from assassinating the Queen, training at a camp for lesbian warriors and smuggling heroin out of China. As the plot proceeds it just gets sillier and sillier, serving mainly as a vehicle for Mortdecai to toss off a series of acid observations, which keep the laughs coming.

After You with the Pistol is pure fluff, but very enjoyable and well-executed fluff. There's a lot of Wodehouse in Bonfiglioli's characters, and he makes reference to Jeeves and Wooster several times, so it's clear they are among his inspirations. These books are a bit more manic than the Jeeves stories, but lovers of Wodehouse would probably enjoy them.… (mais)

Something Nasty in the Woodshed is the find instalment in the Mortdecai trilogy. Charlie and Johanna have decamped to the Isle of Jersey because certain authorities in London have suggested to Charlie that he not show his face in London for a long while.

The wife of one of Charlie's chums is assaulted and raped in her home. Soon after, another of the wives in their circle is also raped. Accounts indicate that the rapes may be linked to a practitioner of witchcraft. Charlie does the obvious thing and arranges for a Satanic Black Mass to entrap the miscreant.

The book has Bonfiglioli's usual quota of arch observations from Charlie, and the ending is good. However I simply could not go along with the idea of building a light-hearted caper story around women being raped. That may have seemed funny in the '70s when the book was first published, but it's far less so now.

I also think this final instalment would have been stronger if it was a continuation of the plot lines of the first two novels. One doesn't get the sense of a story being brought to a conclusion, rather than an additional yarn being tacked onto the end of a two-novel plot.… (mais)

Don't Point That Thing at Me is the first of a series of novels about the Hon. Charles Mortdecai, a dissolute and amoral art "dealer" (read "thief") who lives in Piccadilly with his thuggish valet Jock. Mortdecai comes from the landed gentry but is more likely to be involved with far more disreputable and often illegal activities.

In this first instalment, Mortdecai gets his hands on a stolen Goya on behalf of a wealthy and shady American client. This client has also decided to go in for a bit of blackmail, the consequences of which rebound on the unsuspecting Mortdecai and spectacular and often painful fashion.

The plot is wildly improbable from start to finish, but Mortdecai is a brilliant character that the reader warms to readiy. The narration is droll and arch, with some acid comments on matters such as the aristocracy, sex and airline food that provoke sputtering laughter. The Mordecai books are not easy to find, but worth seeking out.… (mais)