P.G. Wodehouse was probably not the first to make fun of the brainless British aristocracy, but he certainly turned it into a minor form of British humor, often imitated and never duplicated. This unfortunately is true of Blotto and Twinks. The satire of odd dialogue and apt names grows a bit thin after a while, because, unlike Wodehouse, there is no common sense, common man Jeeves to balance the simultaneous perfection and ridiculousness of the aristocratic protagonists. The author refers to the other ranks, throughout as the oikish classes and the reader gets the sense that he is not even half in jest.
Meet Blotto, the Honorable and his sister Twinks. Both are beautiful and honorable representations of their class, but Twinks, seems to have gotten the brains meant for both of them. Twinks and Blotto attend the customary English House Party Weekend, complete with a polymath amateur sleuth (not in this case them) only to discover that their hostess has been murdered and the amateur sleuth has gotten quite the wrong end of the stick in accusing Blotto's chauffeur, a man so loyal he is literally willing to die for the pair of them, even if that means being hanged for a crime he didn't commit. Again, this is portrayed as humor, but again there is no balance. Blotto and Twinks hare off on a madcap adventure to find the real murderer that leads them through an opium den and the odd castle and the headquarters of those of the oikish classes not prepared to stay in their place.
As lighthearted fare, Blotto and Twinks mysteries are fine, but don't rise above the imitation of Wodehouse that is so obviously intended and don't rise above this because none of the characters ever rises above cliche. If the characters had not been so perfect beneath their satiric facades or if even one of the other ranks had not so clearly belonged just where he was then Blotto and Twinks could have been a very good series indeed. As it stands, this reader will probably stop at one adventure into this particular England. Recommended to fans of Wodehouse looking for similar fare.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 21, 2012
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 14, 2011
Blotto and Twinks resemble P. G. Wodehouse's Wooster and Jeeves' characters; or Lewis Carroll's in the Adventures in Wonderland.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 25, 2015Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 29, 2011
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 15, 2018
Top reviews from other countries
Doreen Edwards
I say, Old Bean, that Brett chappie has come a cropper, what?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 31, 2011EASY READER
....won't bother reading any more of this series
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 25, 2014
