All Hands on Deck! (Master Bridge Series) [Paperback]

David Bird (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000 | Series: Master Bridge Series

Bridge cruises are all the rage and here David Bird, the number one humorous bridge writer, provides a feast of hilariously funny stories in exotic settings and, of course, some excellent bridge. The players disembark at various ports of call, encountering bridge adventures in Morocco, Italy, Israel, Yemen, and India.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Bird is the author of many excellent bridge books, instructive titles and funny ones. Bridge critic for the Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard and Glasgow Evening Times

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575068477
• ISBN-13: 978-0575068476
• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,233,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Bird is the author of 108 bridge books, recently overtaking the total of the late Terence Reese. He is best known for his humorous bridge fiction, involving the monks of the St Titus monastery headed by the pompous Abbot, Hugo Yorke-Smith. Bridge correspondent for the Mail on Sunday (UK) and the London Evening Standard, David contributes to many bridge magazines around the world and is a frequent commentator on international bridge events for Bridge Base Online. Married to Thelma, with two children and a four-year-old grandson, he has a great passion for travelling the world. In any country they visit, he and Thelma make sure that they take full advantage of the local food and drink. They are also keen snorkellers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy successor to the "Abbot" books, July 22, 2001

By 

John Peter O'connor - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All Hands on Deck! (Master Bridge Series) (Paperback)

Master Bridge humourist David Bird tackles an almost new scenario with this book. Almost new in that his earlier book "The Abbot and The Sensational Squeeze" included a short section in which the famous Bridge playing Abbot spent some time as the host on a bridge cruise.

In this book, we are introduced to a completely fresh cast of characters lead by the cruise host Mr Knight. He is usually known as Rupert Knight though the poor standard of proof reading common to Bird's recent works causes him to become Ralph on occasion. As with Bird's rather weak Robin Hood books, many of the hands are the work of Tim Bourke but happily in the case of this book, the bridge content is rather more interesting.

The bridge described alternates between ship board duplicate sessions and on shore rubber bridge with an unlikely cast of characters enountered by the cruise passengers. This allows reasonable variety and provides scope for the wit for which David Bird is highly regarded.

The real test has to be: how does this book compare to the "Abbot" books? Certainly this book is closer to the mark than the "Robin Hood" books and it will not disappoint his fans.

If you have not read any of Daid Bird's books before, I suggest that you try to get hold of some of the earlier books in the "Abbot" series. You really cannot go wrong with the ones that were co-authored with Terence Reese.