CONSPIRACY OF FRIENDS Corduroy Mansions, Book 3

Corduroy Mansions is the fictional address of some of the most engaging, eccentric, and unforgettable Brits around. First published as serial audio podcasts, it’s now wonderfully delineated by master narrator Simon Prebble. Listeners meet Oedipus Snark, “the only truly nasty Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament”; his psychiatrist mother, Berthea, who hopes Oedipus isn’t really her son; failed wine merchant William French and his highly intelligent Pimlico terrier, Freddie de la Hay (THE DOG WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, 2011); and a wide cast of charming, sometimes normal, frequently odd personalities. Prebble treats McCall Smith’s tender satire, especially the new and recurring characters and their daily escapades, with understated truthfulness, making this third Corduroy Mansions installment a celebration of the ordinary and the outrageous. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2012]