LoveReading Says
If you’re in need of a comfort read, you won’t go wrong with the latest in the Constable Twitten mysteries. Former literary editor, Lynne Truss, has spun a series that’s got all the hallmarks of a cosy crime including curious deaths (yes indeed by milk bottle), period setting and cast of fun and familiar characters.
At the centre is Constable Twitten who’s out to solve a brutal and baffling trio of murders. Gory and nasty this book is not; the story’s more madcap than menace. So leave your desire for dark drama – and at times your disbelief – at the door. Just follow by-the-book Twitten as he seeks to stop more blood and milk being spilt.
Many readers will know Truss as a humorous grammarian and author of Eat, Shoots & Leaves, and she’s captured the same sense of playfulness with this charming seaside farce.
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Reviewed by Julie VuongJulie Vuong is a journalist working at the centre of UK publishing, serving as feature writer at news service, BookBrunch, and columnist for Mslexia, the iconic magazine for women…
More reviews by Julie Vuong About Murder by Milk Bottle
***Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2021***THE ACCLAIMED MURDER MYSTERY FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PERFECT FOR FANS OF RICHARD OSMAN'Funny, clever, charming, imaginative and nostalgic' The Times'Terrific' Mail on Sunday'A giddy spell of sheer delight' Daily MailThe August bank holiday is approaching and after two extremely high-profile murder cases, Constable Twitten is eagerly anticipating a quiet spell at work. But then they find the bodies - and the milk bottles.Three seemingly unconnected victims - a hard-working AA patrolman, a would-be Beauty Queen, a catty BBC radio personality - have all been killed with the same, highly unusual murder weapon. Constable Twitten, Sergeant Brunswick and Inspector Steine are initially baffled, the town is alarmed, and the local newspaper is delighted: after all, what sells papers better than a killer on the loose? Can our redoubtable trio solve the case and catch this most curious of killers before they strike again?'The glorious return of Constable Twitten is a cause for celebration... the fun is in Truss's keen ear for dialogue, original comic characters and affectionate(ish) recreation of a seaside resort in its slightly sleazy heyday' Sunday Times Crime Club
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Lynne Truss Press Reviews
Murder by Milk Bottle is the third outing for Lynne Truss's loveable seaside ninnies. In relating and relishing the farcical events that culminate in the Utterly Preventable Milk-Bar Riot , it proves even funnier than its playful precursors - The Times
The glorious return of Constable Twitten and the doughty coppers of 1950s Brighton for a third adventure is a cause for celebration ... As ever the fun is in Truss's keen ear for dialogue, original comic characters and affectionate(ish) recreation of a seaside resort in its slightly sleazy heyday - Sunday Times Crime Club
A delight. Lynne Truss has great affection for her characters, who fully inhabit 1950s Brighton. The backgrounds of gang warfare and milk marketing come together to sublime comic effect. There are some lovely lines - and a cheerily high body count. Enormous fun -- Simon Brett
If you enjoy knock-about farce played at hectic speed, this is the book for you -- Barry Turner - Daily Mail
Outstanding ... In her ability to blend crime and farce, Truss is in a class of her own - Publishers Weekly
A nicely managed farce with thoroughly likeable characters and a terrific period feel -- John Williams - Mail on Sunday
A ridiculously funny caricature of the seaside town of Brighton - New York Times Book Review
Murder by Milk Bottle flows at a swift pace ... Truss's approach to crime fiction owes as much to English comedy classics like The Goon Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus as to vintage British police-procedural series like Dixon of Dock Green or Fabian of the Yard. Her sharp-toothed whimsy may be an acquired taste, but it's one well worth savoring - Wall Street Journal
More Marx Brothers than Agatha Christie, this is crime fiction turned on its head - a giddy spell of sheer delight -- Praise for the Constable Twitten series - Daily Mail
[A] pitch-perfect send-up of 1950s Brighton with nods to Graham Greene ... Hilarious -- Praise for the Constable Twitten series - Sunday Times Crime Club
Funny, clever, charming, imaginative, nostalgic and gently satirical -- Praise for the Constable Twitten series - The Times
About Lynne Truss
Lynne Truss is one of Britain’s top comic writers and is the author of the number one bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves. It has sold over three million copies worldwide and won the British Book of the Year award in 2004. She has also written four comic books, Going Loco, Making the Cat Laugh, Tennyson’s Gift and With One Lousy Free Packet of Seed, all available from Profile Books. She is also a regular presenter on Radio 4 and a guest presenter for many other programmes. She lives in Brighton.
Below is a Q & A with this author.
Do you have a favourite punctuation mark?
I do! When I was writing Eats, Shoots & Leaves, I remember saying that this was going to be a new experience for me, because usually (when I was writing plays or novels) I would fall in love with one of the characters. “No chance of that this time,” I said. But in fact I fell in love with the colon. I realised how manly it was. However, I think you have to be a very strange or special person to understand what I mean by that.
What is the most embarrassing mistake you have ever made?
It’s not very good, I’m afraid. I was about 22, and at a party, talking to some parents about whether they should get some injections for their kids, and I said it was probably very important to have them intoxicated. I meant innoculated, you see. I felt like killing myself afterwards.
What is the worst mistake you have ever seen?
I don’t recall. I try to remember only the funny ones. The funniest one I know about is “RESIDENTS REFUSE TO GO IN THE BINS”.
Aside from errors in punctuation and bad manners, do you have any other pet hates?
I don’t actually hate punctuation errors: they make me sad. Meanwhile, the rudeness of the modern world (which was the subject of my last book, Talk to the Hand – it wasn’t just about manners) also makes me more suicidal than angry. However, since you ask, what I do really hate is cyclists on pavements. Or cyclists sailing across pdestrian crossings when the lights are against them. Or cyclists going the wrong way down a one-way street. I would like new laws passed so that citizens would be within their rights to push cyclists off their bikes, if discovered committing any of those outrages.
What is the furthest you have ever gone to correct someone’s punctuation?
Sorry, I don’t go out of my way at all to correct punctuation. Occasionally, if I’m feeling very larky, I will correct a sign and then add my signature underneath – sort-of like the mark of Zorro. But I actually don’t go around correcting people in a serious way, because I know it hurts their feelings.
What are you reading at the moment?
Because I’m just starting to write my first stage play, I’ve been reading a lot of plays; also books about playwriting. Alan Ayckbourn’s The Crafty Art of Playwriting is full of good advice. I’ve just read Lionel Shriver’s Double Fault (a novel about tennis players), and a new American biography of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Last night, I started Julia Briggs’s book about Virginia Woolf, which looks great. Julia Briggs gave a talk about the book at the Charleston Literary Festival in May that was quite the most impressive talk I’ve ever been to.
What was your favourite childhood book?
I loved Pooh best, I think. But Lewis Carroll has had the most lasting effect on my imagination, and I often invoke the Alice books, assuming that everyone knows them off by heart, as I do. When I was about ten, I learned all the poems – “Jabberwocky”, “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, “You Are Old, Father William” – and recited them to my bored classmates. I do see Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as one of the most important books ever written.
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