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Charlie Mortdecai #2
After You with the Pistol
Cult classics in the UK since their first publication there in the 1970s, Kyril Bonfiglioli's wickedly fun mysteries featuring the Honorable Charlie Mortdecai—degenerate aristocrat, amoral art dealer, seasoned epicurean, unwilling assassin, and general knave-about-Picadilly—are favorites of Stephen Fry and Julian Barnes, among others. Charlie's back in After You With the Pistol, along with his new bride, Joanna, and his thuggish manservant, Jock. He’'s also still drinking too much whiskey—and anything else he can get his hands on—which makes it all the more difficult to figure out what the beautiful and fabulously wealthy Joanna is up to when she tries to convince Charlie to kill the Queen. Suffice it to say, Joanna is not quite what she seems. Don't miss this brilliant mixture of comedy, crime, and suspense.
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First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Kyril Bonfiglioli
35 books101 followersKyril Bonfiglioli was variously an art dealer, editor, and writer.
He wrote four books featuring Charlie Mortdecai, three of which were published in his lifetime, and one posthumously as completed by the satirist Craig Brown. Charlie Mortdecai is the fictional art dealer anti-hero of the series. His character resembles, among other things, an amoral Bertie Wooster with occasional psychopathic tendencies. His books are still in print and have been translated into several different languages including Spanish, French, Italian, German and Japanese.
Bonfiglioli's style and novel structure have often been favourably compared to that of P. G. Wodehouse. Mortdecai and his manservant Jock Strapp bear a fun-house mirror relation to Wodehouse's Wooster and Jeeves. The author makes a nod to this comparison by having Mortdecai reference Wodehouse in the novels.
He wrote four books featuring Charlie Mortdecai, three of which were published in his lifetime, and one posthumously as completed by the satirist Craig Brown. Charlie Mortdecai is the fictional art dealer anti-hero of the series. His character resembles, among other things, an amoral Bertie Wooster with occasional psychopathic tendencies. His books are still in print and have been translated into several different languages including Spanish, French, Italian, German and Japanese.
Bonfiglioli's style and novel structure have often been favourably compared to that of P. G. Wodehouse. Mortdecai and his manservant Jock Strapp bear a fun-house mirror relation to Wodehouse's Wooster and Jeeves. The author makes a nod to this comparison by having Mortdecai reference Wodehouse in the novels.
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January 11, 2017After you with the Pistol - the second Charlie Mortdecai novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli, soon to be a major film starring Johnny Depp
'Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing of the last fifty years' Guardian,
Charlie Mortdecai - degenerate aristocrat and victim of his own larceny and licentiousness - has no idea. Until it is made clear to him that he must marry the beautiful, sex-crazed and very, very rich Johanna Krampf. The fly in the ointment is that Johanna thinks nothing of involving poor Charlie in her life-threatening schemes such as monarch-assassination, heroin smuggling and - worst of all - survival training at a college for feminist spies. Perhaps, it's all in a good cause - if only Charlie can live long enough to find out.
'Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing of the last fifty years' Guardian,
Charlie Mortdecai - degenerate aristocrat and victim of his own larceny and licentiousness - has no idea. Until it is made clear to him that he must marry the beautiful, sex-crazed and very, very rich Johanna Krampf. The fly in the ointment is that Johanna thinks nothing of involving poor Charlie in her life-threatening schemes such as monarch-assassination, heroin smuggling and - worst of all - survival training at a college for feminist spies. Perhaps, it's all in a good cause - if only Charlie can live long enough to find out.
August 17, 2008
It's a shame that Bonfiglioli only wrote three true-blue Mortdecai novels.
The first, Don't Point that Thing at Me ended on a cliffhanger - the threat of a Sam Peckinpah-esque shootout. Who knows? It's probably where Bonfiglioli wanted to leave it - after all, the British edition is entitled, Mortdecai's Endgame.
The third, Something Nasty in the Woodshed, ended...ah, ended. And in such a satisfying, but downbeat, way. Your favorite characters - mine, at least; in the parlance of the Internet, YMMV - got out alive...barely.
I can only imagine that if Bonfiglioli had continued, he'd have upped the ante with each outing of Mortdecai. Meaning, less of the meat that made up the Mortdecai mortal coil would've remained each and every time until, hilariously*, we were narrated to by a dead man.
The books - this review is really a catch-all for the three novels - suffers from typos, as if the secretary typing it out for Overlook Press couldn't get the typing down fast enough and over to the sink to rub her hands raw with soap, towels.
Politically incorrect, I believe, is the phrase that pays, here. And the stories have not aged a day thanks to this worldview (shitty, spiteful outlooks never change; it's optimism that is always chasing the tail of the latest idea of optimism), save for some references to our mutual friends, the Chinese. They (the Children of the Revolution) have got better ways of making you spill secrets - better than a nail through the spleen, or electrocution of the more tender of your various electrocutables. It's speak Mao or never hold your piece, if I may be permitted a moment of free speech.
They've got videofeed of a rather mindnumbing Summer Olympics (aren't the Winter Olympics, like, more of a consolation prize to athletes who are, you know, not athletic? I mean, really, jumping into a greased kayak and running down an icy ramp isn't really a sport, is it? It's more what drunk guys agree to do to get home, thumbing their nose at the local DUI law and its enforcing officers) to loosen the strings on your purse of secrets.
You could do worse in the next 60-or-so years you've got left than read this trilogy; so if you've run through your Wodehouse, or are doing 10-20 in the Big House...invite Charlie, Jock, Johanna (as lovely, as sinister as Amis' Nicola Sixx, as seen in London Fields), Col. Blucher etc. etc. into your etc. etc.
And, really, read them in the twisted inside-out way**; you want to leave this little pocket of jolly with something like (like, but not really exactly) hope shining in your eyes.
* You might think that should be in quotes, but no. I'm certain Bonfiglioli would have pulled it off hilariously. Italics, emphasis mine. Because, really, I want to emphasize it.
** Again, that's Don't Point that Thing at Me (the first novel), Something Nasty in the Woodshed (the third novel) and After You with the Pistol (the second novel. Remember: You left Pulp Fiction thinking John Travolta's character was alive (and very well-fed)...then 20 minutes later you remembered, "Hey! Bruce Willis punched his ticket waaaay earlier! What th'?!?" But you didn't put up a fight. You didn't. You accepted. You accepted the Vonnegutian notion that while you may die in 2012, you're forever alive in 200-, oh, let's say 3. 2003.
The first, Don't Point that Thing at Me ended on a cliffhanger - the threat of a Sam Peckinpah-esque shootout. Who knows? It's probably where Bonfiglioli wanted to leave it - after all, the British edition is entitled, Mortdecai's Endgame.
The third, Something Nasty in the Woodshed, ended...ah, ended. And in such a satisfying, but downbeat, way. Your favorite characters - mine, at least; in the parlance of the Internet, YMMV - got out alive...barely.
I can only imagine that if Bonfiglioli had continued, he'd have upped the ante with each outing of Mortdecai. Meaning, less of the meat that made up the Mortdecai mortal coil would've remained each and every time until, hilariously*, we were narrated to by a dead man.
The books - this review is really a catch-all for the three novels - suffers from typos, as if the secretary typing it out for Overlook Press couldn't get the typing down fast enough and over to the sink to rub her hands raw with soap, towels.
Politically incorrect, I believe, is the phrase that pays, here. And the stories have not aged a day thanks to this worldview (shitty, spiteful outlooks never change; it's optimism that is always chasing the tail of the latest idea of optimism), save for some references to our mutual friends, the Chinese. They (the Children of the Revolution) have got better ways of making you spill secrets - better than a nail through the spleen, or electrocution of the more tender of your various electrocutables. It's speak Mao or never hold your piece, if I may be permitted a moment of free speech.
They've got videofeed of a rather mindnumbing Summer Olympics (aren't the Winter Olympics, like, more of a consolation prize to athletes who are, you know, not athletic? I mean, really, jumping into a greased kayak and running down an icy ramp isn't really a sport, is it? It's more what drunk guys agree to do to get home, thumbing their nose at the local DUI law and its enforcing officers) to loosen the strings on your purse of secrets.
You could do worse in the next 60-or-so years you've got left than read this trilogy; so if you've run through your Wodehouse, or are doing 10-20 in the Big House...invite Charlie, Jock, Johanna (as lovely, as sinister as Amis' Nicola Sixx, as seen in London Fields), Col. Blucher etc. etc. into your etc. etc.
And, really, read them in the twisted inside-out way**; you want to leave this little pocket of jolly with something like (like, but not really exactly) hope shining in your eyes.
* You might think that should be in quotes, but no. I'm certain Bonfiglioli would have pulled it off hilariously. Italics, emphasis mine. Because, really, I want to emphasize it.
** Again, that's Don't Point that Thing at Me (the first novel), Something Nasty in the Woodshed (the third novel) and After You with the Pistol (the second novel. Remember: You left Pulp Fiction thinking John Travolta's character was alive (and very well-fed)...then 20 minutes later you remembered, "Hey! Bruce Willis punched his ticket waaaay earlier! What th'?!?" But you didn't put up a fight. You didn't. You accepted. You accepted the Vonnegutian notion that while you may die in 2012, you're forever alive in 200-, oh, let's say 3. 2003.
June 2, 2025
The second Charlie Mortdecai novel picks up the action immediately after the end of the first (much to my initial confusion, having entirely forgotten what happened in volume one) with our hero/antihero holed up in a disused mine in Lancashire. It doesn’t take long for him to be extricated from a seemingly hopeless situation and to be launched upon a new set of improbable and yet more perilous adventures, involving, but not limited to, an attempted assassination attempt on HM Queen Elizabeth II, incarceration in an ultra-violent training camp for female spies, international drug running, becoming the victim of a CIA double-crossing plot and a shootout in a pork processing plant, all within the scope of 184 pages. The Mortdecai books really are unlike anything else I’ve read, and while the debt to P. G. Wodehouse is clear, they are extraordinary creations, entirely sui generis.
February 22, 2025
"How lucidly one thinks, to be sure, when one has taken just a suspicion of brandy more than one should." So says Charlie Mortdecai, who is Kyril Bonfiglioli's central character in this and other novels, and he knows. His life abounds in at least a suspicion more of many things than the rest of us would find reasonable or even affordable: a wealthy and beautiful wife who has the strong desire for him to assassinate the Queen of England; a mysterious American who wants him to spy on his wife; waiters in Chinese restaurants (regarding which, discretion about the plot forbids me to say more); and, not least, fine art and international travel and weapons both legal and il- and meals and even naps.
The pleasures of reading Bonfiglioli have been better summarized by Leo Carey in a New Yorker profile than I can easily provide here, and Carey gives you the side benefit of acquaintanceship with the author himself, who seems as improbable a creature as Mortdecai. But I will say that one feels somehow cleverer for having read this book, that it's a bit like Wodehouse with shots of Ian Fleming and much general wickedness, and that, as Stephen Fry remarks in a blurb, "You couldn't snuggle under the duvet with anything more disreputable and delightful."
Postscript 2/22/25, after rereading: There’s something ineffably appealing about bagatelles, about lightweight things, about things that can be called “thin” (as Noël Coward’s comedies were). Some of them can serve as antigravity devices, capable of neutralizing much more than their own weight. Kyril Bonfiglioli’s comic mysteries about Charlie Mortdecai are like that, judging from this one, the only one I’ve read (and now reread) so far. During heavy times, Bonfiglioli can provide lightness aplenty.
The pleasures of reading Bonfiglioli have been better summarized by Leo Carey in a New Yorker profile than I can easily provide here, and Carey gives you the side benefit of acquaintanceship with the author himself, who seems as improbable a creature as Mortdecai. But I will say that one feels somehow cleverer for having read this book, that it's a bit like Wodehouse with shots of Ian Fleming and much general wickedness, and that, as Stephen Fry remarks in a blurb, "You couldn't snuggle under the duvet with anything more disreputable and delightful."
Postscript 2/22/25, after rereading: There’s something ineffably appealing about bagatelles, about lightweight things, about things that can be called “thin” (as Noël Coward’s comedies were). Some of them can serve as antigravity devices, capable of neutralizing much more than their own weight. Kyril Bonfiglioli’s comic mysteries about Charlie Mortdecai are like that, judging from this one, the only one I’ve read (and now reread) so far. During heavy times, Bonfiglioli can provide lightness aplenty.
March 17, 2024
“I do not often stand aghast, but aghast is what I stood.”
Another delightful read. These stories are filled with contradictions and confusing plot lines but the Mortdecai anecdotes make the books just a wonderful time.
Another delightful read. These stories are filled with contradictions and confusing plot lines but the Mortdecai anecdotes make the books just a wonderful time.
December 28, 2011
Just brilliant. I've been meaning to read this for the past year and didn't know what to expect.
It's extremely funny, Mortdecai is such a great character and the mystery is as convoluted as they come. Early on I was laughing so hard and frequently that I had to put the book down and ask myself how likely it was that I would even finish the book, but as the end drew near the jokes were a little less frequent and I had to work hard to put fix the events in to my idea of what the plot was. But still, a near perfect Upper Class British version of the pulp fiction noir.
After this I cannot recommend any of the Mortdecai novels highly enough.
It's extremely funny, Mortdecai is such a great character and the mystery is as convoluted as they come. Early on I was laughing so hard and frequently that I had to put the book down and ask myself how likely it was that I would even finish the book, but as the end drew near the jokes were a little less frequent and I had to work hard to put fix the events in to my idea of what the plot was. But still, a near perfect Upper Class British version of the pulp fiction noir.
After this I cannot recommend any of the Mortdecai novels highly enough.
January 3, 2021
3 stars for the story, 4th for the genius language and my genuine laughter!
November 14, 2022
After You with the Pistol: The Second Charlie Mortdecai Novel is the 2nd book in the Charlie Mortdecai mystery / adventure series by Kyril Bonfiglioli. Here's the interesting thing. Even though it's listed in Wikipedia and other sites, including Goodreads, as Book 2, it was the third book published. 🤣 Excuse my confusion.
Having got that out of my system, Charlie is an art dealer, adventurer, etc. The author was also an art dealer. What to say about this book / series. In some ways it reminds me of the TV series, The Avengers; kind of strange, fun, a bit weird but interesting. Throughout the book, there are references to P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster (and Jeeves) and the humor provides similarities to that series, if you are willing to throw in some murder and mayhem. Charlie even has his own butler, low life gangster cum butler, Jock.
In this story, Charlie is saved from murder by American spyish guy, Col Blucher. Charlie thinks his faithful friend Jock is dead but discovers happily that he survived a murder attempt. Blucher needs Charlie's help, wants him to infiltrate an organization that includes lovely, sex-crazed Johanna Krampf. Supposedly Johanna is in deep love with middle - aged Charlie, so of course, they get married. The story now follows Charlie and sometimes Johanna and Blucher, as he goes to a 'spy' school run by the Commandant (she is interesting), attempts to assassinate the Monarch of GB, goes to Macau to pick up a package and all the time avoiding being killed. Charlie takes his lumps, many of them to be exact throughout the adventure, all the time trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
It's a fun, wide-ranging story, witty, droll, sexy at times and full of action. The story also makes me think of Adam Diment's cult Philip McAlpine 60's sexy, drug-filled spy series. Just go along for the ride and enjoy yourself. Worth trying out. (3.o stars)
Having got that out of my system, Charlie is an art dealer, adventurer, etc. The author was also an art dealer. What to say about this book / series. In some ways it reminds me of the TV series, The Avengers; kind of strange, fun, a bit weird but interesting. Throughout the book, there are references to P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster (and Jeeves) and the humor provides similarities to that series, if you are willing to throw in some murder and mayhem. Charlie even has his own butler, low life gangster cum butler, Jock.
In this story, Charlie is saved from murder by American spyish guy, Col Blucher. Charlie thinks his faithful friend Jock is dead but discovers happily that he survived a murder attempt. Blucher needs Charlie's help, wants him to infiltrate an organization that includes lovely, sex-crazed Johanna Krampf. Supposedly Johanna is in deep love with middle - aged Charlie, so of course, they get married. The story now follows Charlie and sometimes Johanna and Blucher, as he goes to a 'spy' school run by the Commandant (she is interesting), attempts to assassinate the Monarch of GB, goes to Macau to pick up a package and all the time avoiding being killed. Charlie takes his lumps, many of them to be exact throughout the adventure, all the time trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
It's a fun, wide-ranging story, witty, droll, sexy at times and full of action. The story also makes me think of Adam Diment's cult Philip McAlpine 60's sexy, drug-filled spy series. Just go along for the ride and enjoy yourself. Worth trying out. (3.o stars)
November 16, 2024
I thought this 2nd instalment of the adventure of Charlie Mortdacai was more enjoyable than the first. More funny one-liners definitely. The plot wasn’t the greatest, but easily forgivable because of the dialogue and musings of the main character.
February 21, 2017
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.
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.
January 27, 2016
I shall sum this novel up in one word. Hmmm. One word not the same word but said once on each occasion. ..
Superb.
Again one word to sum up this novel....
Fantastic.
Brilliant.
Excellent.
You see my predicament?
Hard to to justice to this novel or the author. Think a randy Bertie Wooster. Equal parts Tom Jones (the Henry Fielding chap not the Welsh singer...although).
Think a busted nosed bruiser in place of Jeeves whose name is Jock Strap. Think unlikely tales that pervert the course of literature. Mayhem, murder and naked girls running hither then thither. There is dash of Regicide. A splash of sex. A soupcon of espionage and lot of other stuff too.
To say this is P/G. Wodehouse with a violent attitude and an erection is like saying Crowded House copied The Beatles. Influenced by perhaps, but not of a copy o said gent. The end result those is something rather special.
Superb.
Again one word to sum up this novel....
Fantastic.
Brilliant.
Excellent.
You see my predicament?
Hard to to justice to this novel or the author. Think a randy Bertie Wooster. Equal parts Tom Jones (the Henry Fielding chap not the Welsh singer...although).
Think a busted nosed bruiser in place of Jeeves whose name is Jock Strap. Think unlikely tales that pervert the course of literature. Mayhem, murder and naked girls running hither then thither. There is dash of Regicide. A splash of sex. A soupcon of espionage and lot of other stuff too.
To say this is P/G. Wodehouse with a violent attitude and an erection is like saying Crowded House copied The Beatles. Influenced by perhaps, but not of a copy o said gent. The end result those is something rather special.
January 16, 2015
The second book in the Mortdecai trilogy is the silliest, and the most anti-PC, and consequently the most fun. This time out, Charlie, no longer master of his fate, is pitted against his wife's consortium of dominant women, the C.I.A., and a triad of Chinese waiters. As a cat's paw in an effort to stop an international conspiracy, Charlie is beaten, imprisoned, and groped by schoolgirls. The scotch flows, the quips bandied about, and Charlie ends up at unwitting hero at last. These books could not be published today. They would be called racist and sexist and insensitive and elitist. Bonfiglioli lards these trifles with quotes from great poets and literary allusions; this is pulp trash that makes you feel intellectual. Charlie Mortdecai is a contemporary Flashman without the uniform, and as such should be read.
June 24, 2016
This is a stupid, ridiculous mess of a book. I loved it.
#2 in the Mortdecai series, and it's probably better to have read #1 first. There are a few specific references back to #1, but mostly it's so you already know Mortdecai and Jock.
Note that this was written in 1979 (reissued 2014 in the form I read), so there will be a few things that are less politically correct than current readers expect. Not much though.
Mortdecai keeps getting manipulated - be several different people - into impossibly difficult situations; but each time the author has set it up more or less believably. And he's consistently just capable enough to keep himself alive. To be clear, he's against some rather heavy hitters, and we keep seeing that he is (or was) one himself.
Wodehouse meets secreat agent meets master thief, with complete disrespect for anything except fun. Read them all!
#2 in the Mortdecai series, and it's probably better to have read #1 first. There are a few specific references back to #1, but mostly it's so you already know Mortdecai and Jock.
Note that this was written in 1979 (reissued 2014 in the form I read), so there will be a few things that are less politically correct than current readers expect. Not much though.
Mortdecai keeps getting manipulated - be several different people - into impossibly difficult situations; but each time the author has set it up more or less believably. And he's consistently just capable enough to keep himself alive. To be clear, he's against some rather heavy hitters, and we keep seeing that he is (or was) one himself.
Wodehouse meets secreat agent meets master thief, with complete disrespect for anything except fun. Read them all!
September 14, 2018
This is book 2 of 3, but the only one I could get on audio. The beginning definitely feels like you're jumping into the middle of a continuing story and are supposed to know who's who and what's going on. I did not appreciate that. His emulation of Wodehouse, at least in character voice, is spot-on and delightful. The application of that voice to a spy story was nice. The crafting of the plot however was nowhere close to the Wodehousian standard. So, all in all, I found it merely a pleasant read. Simon Prebble did an excellent job as expected (although his American accent is not the best).
Read
July 23, 2011What if Bertie Wooster had a wife? And what if he had some espionage training? The result might be something like this adventure.
December 27, 2014
Everyone needs a Jock in their life.
October 12, 2015
Dle očekávání mi byl dost fuk příběh, ale u vyprávění jsem se skvěle bavila a hlasitě smála, když na to přišlo. Mrzí mě, že už mě víc knih od Bonfiglioliho nečeká :-(
February 1, 2020
Book Review: After You With The Pistol
Author: Kyril Bonfiglioli
'Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing of the last fifty years' - The cover page proudly presented this quote.
After you with the Pistol is the second Charlie Mortdecai novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli, soon to be a major film starring Johnny Depp.
Charlie Mortdecai - degenerate aristocrat and victim of his own larceny and licentiousness - has no idea. Until it is made clear to him that he must marry the beautiful, sex-crazed and very, very rich Johanna Krampf. The fly in the ointment is that Johanna thinks nothing of involving poor Charlie in her life-threatening schemes such as monarch-assassination, heroin smuggling and - worst of all - survival training at a college for feminist spies. Perhaps, it's all in a good cause - if only Charlie can live long enough to find out.
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.
One has to be crazy enough to pick out this book and read it. It's an explosion of craziness in almost every way. It's fun, it's witty and yes it's awesome with every turn of page.
Read it for some quality crime comedy drama that would surely tickle your bones.
A three and a half stars for After You With the Pistol
🌟 🌟 🌟 1/2
Author: Kyril Bonfiglioli
'Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing of the last fifty years' - The cover page proudly presented this quote.
After you with the Pistol is the second Charlie Mortdecai novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli, soon to be a major film starring Johnny Depp.
Charlie Mortdecai - degenerate aristocrat and victim of his own larceny and licentiousness - has no idea. Until it is made clear to him that he must marry the beautiful, sex-crazed and very, very rich Johanna Krampf. The fly in the ointment is that Johanna thinks nothing of involving poor Charlie in her life-threatening schemes such as monarch-assassination, heroin smuggling and - worst of all - survival training at a college for feminist spies. Perhaps, it's all in a good cause - if only Charlie can live long enough to find out.
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.
One has to be crazy enough to pick out this book and read it. It's an explosion of craziness in almost every way. It's fun, it's witty and yes it's awesome with every turn of page.
Read it for some quality crime comedy drama that would surely tickle your bones.
A three and a half stars for After You With the Pistol
🌟 🌟 🌟 1/2
June 23, 2021
Book Review: After You With The Pistol
Author: Kyril Bonfiglioli
'Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing of the last fifty years' - The cover page proudly presented this quote.
After you with the Pistol is the second Charlie Mortdecai novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli, soon to be a major film starring Johnny Depp.
Charlie Mortdecai - degenerate aristocrat and victim of his own larceny and licentiousness - has no idea. Until it is made clear to him that he must marry the beautiful, sex-crazed and very, very rich Johanna Krampf. The fly in the ointment is that Johanna thinks nothing of involving poor Charlie in her life-threatening schemes such as monarch-assassination, heroin smuggling and - worst of all - survival training at a college for feminist spies. Perhaps, it's all in a good cause - if only Charlie can live long enough to find out.
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.
One has to be crazy enough to pick out this book and read it. It's an explosion of craziness in almost every way. It's fun, it's witty and yes it's awesome with every turn of page.
Read it for some quality crime comedy drama that would surely tickle your bones.
A three and a half stars for After You With the Pistol
Author: Kyril Bonfiglioli
'Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing of the last fifty years' - The cover page proudly presented this quote.
After you with the Pistol is the second Charlie Mortdecai novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli, soon to be a major film starring Johnny Depp.
Charlie Mortdecai - degenerate aristocrat and victim of his own larceny and licentiousness - has no idea. Until it is made clear to him that he must marry the beautiful, sex-crazed and very, very rich Johanna Krampf. The fly in the ointment is that Johanna thinks nothing of involving poor Charlie in her life-threatening schemes such as monarch-assassination, heroin smuggling and - worst of all - survival training at a college for feminist spies. Perhaps, it's all in a good cause - if only Charlie can live long enough to find out.
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.
One has to be crazy enough to pick out this book and read it. It's an explosion of craziness in almost every way. It's fun, it's witty and yes it's awesome with every turn of page.
Read it for some quality crime comedy drama that would surely tickle your bones.
A three and a half stars for After You With the Pistol
January 29, 2018
What is the book really about? A rather weird book, one that probably would have been unendurable if not read as a recorded book read by Simon Prebble, an excellent choice for this mishmash of a ridiculous and largely incomprehensible spy/drug smuggling/assassination parody tale, narrated by the protagonist, supposedly a former art dealer who was also a WWII resistance fighter. Charlie Mordecai presents himself as a too-too sophisticated British aristocrat (or wannabe aristocrat) who is recruited by some sort of international spy group to be a front for something or other involving drug smuggling Chinese and lesbian assassins in training. His voice is an arch imitation of Bertie Wooster, with Bertie’s almost-apropos allusions to Shakespeare and other classic literature.
How did you react to the book? I enjoyed the voice in which it was read, but found the storyline to be silly and largely incomprehensible, as far as logical plotting goes. I don’t quite know why I was attracted to this thing on the library shelves. This is one of a small series by this guy with the preposterous name, a series that seems to have many fans among the British artistic cognoscenti. I think I will pass on the rest of the series.
What will you remember about the book? I will remember the preposterously artificial voice of the narrator; that his Jeeves is a one-eyed, comic-book reading thug who nevertheless is more up on what's what than Charlie is; that he marries a woman he barely knows, and finds out only at the end that her brother is the intelligence agent who recruited him for this silly assignment, whatever it is, and that she owns and operates the lesbian assassins camp where he was held sort-of prisoner. I will remember how goofy it all was.
How did you react to the book? I enjoyed the voice in which it was read, but found the storyline to be silly and largely incomprehensible, as far as logical plotting goes. I don’t quite know why I was attracted to this thing on the library shelves. This is one of a small series by this guy with the preposterous name, a series that seems to have many fans among the British artistic cognoscenti. I think I will pass on the rest of the series.
What will you remember about the book? I will remember the preposterously artificial voice of the narrator; that his Jeeves is a one-eyed, comic-book reading thug who nevertheless is more up on what's what than Charlie is; that he marries a woman he barely knows, and finds out only at the end that her brother is the intelligence agent who recruited him for this silly assignment, whatever it is, and that she owns and operates the lesbian assassins camp where he was held sort-of prisoner. I will remember how goofy it all was.
March 3, 2019
This is the second book in the trilogy featuring amoral art dealer and art thief Charlie Mortdecai - a loveable rogue who on this occasion, together with his faithful manservant Jock, blazes a trail of incompetence through the world of spying, gang culture, drug smuggling and intended world domination. Rescued from his near-death predicament at the end of the first book by US agent Colonel Blucher, Charlie is tasked with infiltrating a group headed up by Johanna Krampf, the widow of an art dealer who met his demise in the first book and inexplicably wants Charlie to marry her. He does so reluctantly and then receives a number of tasks from his wife, to prove that he loves her, but each of which he manages to fail miserably.
This is another highly-entertaining, humorous and black romp, a bit dated and non-PC now, but refreshing for all that. Charlie and Jock have been painted as a sort of dark version of Wooster and Jeeves, which is probably true of the writer's intentions, as Wodehouse is often referenced in the stories. I suppose nowadays Charlie could be a version of Johnny English, although he has far more success with the ladies! Looking forward to reading the third in the trilogy of these shortish (170 pages or so) but entertaining tales - 8.5/10.
This is another highly-entertaining, humorous and black romp, a bit dated and non-PC now, but refreshing for all that. Charlie and Jock have been painted as a sort of dark version of Wooster and Jeeves, which is probably true of the writer's intentions, as Wodehouse is often referenced in the stories. I suppose nowadays Charlie could be a version of Johnny English, although he has far more success with the ladies! Looking forward to reading the third in the trilogy of these shortish (170 pages or so) but entertaining tales - 8.5/10.
August 10, 2021
Bonfiglioli's writing style is indisputably fun and effortless, as it was in the first book of the series, but the actual storyline of this book managed to be both convoluted and implausible to the point of ridiculousness. Mortdecai seems to perpetually grumble and moan about his lot in life, yet the reader can't ignore his tendency to simply go with the flow of things, even well beyond the point of lunacy (attempting to assassinate the Queen of England at the behest of his new wife, for instance). It undermines the character's otherwise skeptical and self-obsessed nature entirely. Also, the book's denouement felt especially haphazard, with no more effort paid to it than any other chapter ending, nor any meaningful resolution delivered.
Although I ordinarily strive to ignore racist/sexist language and themes in books from past eras in which it was largely normalized and accepted, and although I realize this is not necessarily reflective of the author as it's the character speaking, Mordecai's repeated and flagrant insults of women and minorities—and particularly his suggestion that women should just accept rape and try to enjoy it—did nothing to enrich the character or engender any endearment from this reader.
Although I ordinarily strive to ignore racist/sexist language and themes in books from past eras in which it was largely normalized and accepted, and although I realize this is not necessarily reflective of the author as it's the character speaking, Mordecai's repeated and flagrant insults of women and minorities—and particularly his suggestion that women should just accept rape and try to enjoy it—did nothing to enrich the character or engender any endearment from this reader.
December 13, 2018
This work is much more straight-forward, while peppered, and bespeckled with the same wit, charm, and euphamisms that captivated me in the first time.
Chapter 1 begins a few minutes before the end of the previous novel. It cleared up several points of confusion for me. I, obviously, missed key plot points which I dare say, were buried amidst those delightful, though rather heavy-handed, bouts of wordplay.
This work takes more time to spread out the story, making it much more lucid. The treat for me in this book, is a Bond-like spy twist, that I very much savored. A continued sense that Mortdechai's cleverness, and sincerity, yet, a moral compass that wobbles on several occasions. For reasons that make little logic, yet fantastically for the plot, our (anti) hero plunges into the world of smuggling.
Again, having seen the film first, I had expectations of the series. This book includes his wife, in an unusual, and unexpected role which I reveled in her participation. Their marriage strikes me as one of stereotypical aristocratic as portrayed through so many fictions as a cold passion; there is deep love, but oddly distant in appearance.
Chapter 1 begins a few minutes before the end of the previous novel. It cleared up several points of confusion for me. I, obviously, missed key plot points which I dare say, were buried amidst those delightful, though rather heavy-handed, bouts of wordplay.
This work takes more time to spread out the story, making it much more lucid. The treat for me in this book, is a Bond-like spy twist, that I very much savored. A continued sense that Mortdechai's cleverness, and sincerity, yet, a moral compass that wobbles on several occasions. For reasons that make little logic, yet fantastically for the plot, our (anti) hero plunges into the world of smuggling.
Again, having seen the film first, I had expectations of the series. This book includes his wife, in an unusual, and unexpected role which I reveled in her participation. Their marriage strikes me as one of stereotypical aristocratic as portrayed through so many fictions as a cold passion; there is deep love, but oddly distant in appearance.
June 17, 2022
Excellent. Humorous. After watching the movie with Johnny Depp as Charlie Mortdecai the narration comes into my head with his voice and accent. The plot isn’t quite up to that of Don’t Point that Thing At Me. Nevertheless a good tale with the reprobate that is Charlie Mortdecai accompanied again by his trusty Jock.
Note: The book is the product of the 1970s and is clearly not sensitive to current views on political correctness from a sex or racial perspective.
I can understand people having a problem with this to some extent, but it’s no different from books of previous eras of other sorts (Haggard, Christie to name but two).
The prevailing stereotypes, attitudes, thoughts and behaviour at the time were not thought to be inappropriate. One has to take this into consideration when reading. It doesn’t take much intellectual capacity to sandbox the attitudes, appreciating them for a reflection of dated, less diverse sensibilities.
Note: The book is the product of the 1970s and is clearly not sensitive to current views on political correctness from a sex or racial perspective.
I can understand people having a problem with this to some extent, but it’s no different from books of previous eras of other sorts (Haggard, Christie to name but two).
The prevailing stereotypes, attitudes, thoughts and behaviour at the time were not thought to be inappropriate. One has to take this into consideration when reading. It doesn’t take much intellectual capacity to sandbox the attitudes, appreciating them for a reflection of dated, less diverse sensibilities.
January 13, 2020
Tons of good bits.
Notes:
28... make all haste Jock
33... wives should be free to do their own thing, but spouses should not be conscripted
47... the kind of newspaper Jock reads (Fleet Street calls them 'tit-and'bum rags')
50... Spartan boy, fox gnawing (also page 119) Plutarch 100 A.D.
69... takes a bit of the stick to receive criticism or disapproval
74... astrology bore - not listening at all, but merely waiting for you to stop making noises with your mouth so that she can do a spot of uttering herself
76... Oh, jolly good, full marks!
78... simple ways of suicide bite tongue, breath in blood until asphyxiated
80... supervised PT: prance absurdly, try to do press-ups
"?", I asked courteously
133... not a narrative intended for family reading
130-131 ... Woosterisms
137... dreams of avarice
Notes:
28... make all haste Jock
33... wives should be free to do their own thing, but spouses should not be conscripted
47... the kind of newspaper Jock reads (Fleet Street calls them 'tit-and'bum rags')
50... Spartan boy, fox gnawing (also page 119) Plutarch 100 A.D.
69... takes a bit of the stick to receive criticism or disapproval
74... astrology bore - not listening at all, but merely waiting for you to stop making noises with your mouth so that she can do a spot of uttering herself
76... Oh, jolly good, full marks!
78... simple ways of suicide bite tongue, breath in blood until asphyxiated
80... supervised PT: prance absurdly, try to do press-ups
"?", I asked courteously
133... not a narrative intended for family reading
130-131 ... Woosterisms
137... dreams of avarice
August 15, 2024
This was actually the audio book version, so it took me a few days-a week to listen to all of it.
Honestly, I don't know that I'd have finished it if I'd read it; it was hard to get through listening to it, but that's not the author/narrator's fault--the accent was so heavy, that while I enjoyed listening to it, I couldn't understand a lot of it, lol. I was not prepared for the British accent, and spent more time enjoying the sound of it rather that catching the gist of the story!
I can admit that the parts I did catch were "Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing" and I did lol quite a few times!
Honestly, I think I might've gotten more out of it and enjoyed the actual story more if I had read it, so maybe one day I'll try that.
Honestly, I don't know that I'd have finished it if I'd read it; it was hard to get through listening to it, but that's not the author/narrator's fault--the accent was so heavy, that while I enjoyed listening to it, I couldn't understand a lot of it, lol. I was not prepared for the British accent, and spent more time enjoying the sound of it rather that catching the gist of the story!
I can admit that the parts I did catch were "Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing" and I did lol quite a few times!
Honestly, I think I might've gotten more out of it and enjoyed the actual story more if I had read it, so maybe one day I'll try that.
May 1, 2019
Kind of funny here and there, but the story is awful. Even worse, reviewers have compared it to the Jeeves and Flashman books, which are the pinnacle of literary comedy (some will disagree with me, but there are many in my corner on this issue). I wouldn't have liked this book no matter what, but after hearing that it might be among the best comedic novels out there and then discovering that it wasn't even close, I was sorely disappointed. Big waste of time. You'd be better off reading the Jeeves and Flashman books a second or third time than you would reading this once. Still can't understand why Stephen Fry, who acted in the BBC's Jeeves series, endorsed this book.
Read
November 24, 2023Put off reading this for a bit because of the way the previous book ended, but was delighted to discover that I'd agree with the "demented cross between Wodehouse and Fleming" comment I saw somewhere, because at its best, this is flippant and witty; at its worst...the racism and misogyny does tend to recall Fleming
Pull quote/note
"(In the US of A they call waste-paper baskets ‘newspaper-baskets’, which shows a fine sense of values. I like American realists. American idealists, of course, are like all idealists: they are people who kill people.)" (211/275)
Pull quote/note
"(In the US of A they call waste-paper baskets ‘newspaper-baskets’, which shows a fine sense of values. I like American realists. American idealists, of course, are like all idealists: they are people who kill people.)" (211/275)
June 18, 2022
I'd round this up a bit, to 3-1/2 stars.
A silly spy story, in the vein of James Bond. This time, the hero is a somewhat down-at-the-heels aristocrat and ex-spy, Charlie Mordtecai, who finds himself ensnared in some kind of plot that he doesn't even understand. Exactly who is he working for? And what is the goal?
Bullied into marrying the fabulously rich and beautiful American ex-pat Johanna, Charlie is amazed to discover that there's a lot more to her than looks, money, and libido.
"After You with the Pistol" is veddy British and veddy droll. A fun read.
A silly spy story, in the vein of James Bond. This time, the hero is a somewhat down-at-the-heels aristocrat and ex-spy, Charlie Mordtecai, who finds himself ensnared in some kind of plot that he doesn't even understand. Exactly who is he working for? And what is the goal?
Bullied into marrying the fabulously rich and beautiful American ex-pat Johanna, Charlie is amazed to discover that there's a lot more to her than looks, money, and libido.
"After You with the Pistol" is veddy British and veddy droll. A fun read.
July 25, 2021
If you had a chance to watch "Mortdecai" with Johny Depp, you know what we are facing here! If not - it's a series of 3 novels about the adventures of British rogue - art dealer and connoisseur of whiskey. In the second book Mortdecai is getting married to the very reach and mysterious Johanna. As a wedding gift Johanna has strange request - she asks to kill the Queen... Again, the story is full of very specific humor and real twists of action. Nice piece of story
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