The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery

Charlie Mortdecai #4

by Kyril Bonfiglioli

'She was a Fellow and Tutor of Scone College and the world must learn that Fellows and Tutors of Scone College shall not be done to death with impunity.' The Hon. Charlie Mortdecai, the inspiration for the character in the film Mortdecai, starring Johnny Depp, is invited to Oxford to investigate the cruel and most definitely unusual death of a don who collided with an omnibus. Though her death appears accidental, one or two things don't add up - such as two pairs of thugs who'd been following her just before her death. With more spies than you could shoe horn into a stretch limo and the solving of the odd murder along the way, The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery is a criminally comic delight.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Humor, Thriller, Audiobook

202 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Kyril 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.

Reviews

[Tomáš Fojtik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toto je jedna z nejzábavnějších knih z poslední doby. Humor tak suchý, že by mu Martini mohlo závidět. Kniha je nabita hláškami jako ze staré, dobré chandlerovské školy a pokud máte anglický humor rádi, zamilujete si jí. Je vám jedno, jak kniha dopadne. Ten děj je až na druhém místě. Hlášky Charlieho Mortdecaie vás budou bavit celou dobu.

[Zuzana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Já na ty humory moc nejsem. Ale tohle je jiná. Tohle je skoro Saturnin. Absolutně nemá smysl bavit se o ději, ten je jen takovou jednoduchou pomůckou, aby bylo na co lepit věty. Věty, to je oč tu běží. Saturnin, Marlow, Poirot. A obrovská poklona překladatelce, protože zabít to překladem by bylo tak snadné. Skvělá slovní zásoba, skvělý jazykový cit, skvělý smysl pro autorův humor. Toto je humoristická knížka, ne Poslední aristokratka.

A zjistila jsem jednu zvláštnost. Dějově spletité či myšlenkově náročnější knížky čtu bez problémů i ve vlaku plném povídajících si lidí. Tuhle dějově i myšlenkově prostou knížečku jsem přečetla převážně ve vaně a v posteli, protože jsem potřebovala klid, abych si užila všechna ta slova.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it interesting the little facts you find out once you start reading a book - take for instance the last Mortdecai instalment - everywhere you look it refers to the author being Kyril Bonfiglioli, but it is not till you start reading the book (after picking it up) do you see that it was actually unfinished at the time of his death and was in fact finished by Craig Brown.

Now I have read the first in the series (which is referred to as the first of the trilogy) but I cannot say I am familiar with Craig Brown - what I find interesting is that this book although seen as part of the canon is not referred to as part of the original series.

Anyway on to the book - it is full of the wit and sarcasm (and black humour) you would come to expect, and a little more. Now I am all for reading a book in the context and time it was written in - sometimes with the result of uncomfortable dialogue and references, however this book just took it a little too far for me. I am no prude but sometimes it felt like certain jibes were laboured a little too long and repeatedly. I may be wrong but it didn't feel like the first book I read (Don't point that thing at me)

That said there was still the same ludicrous air to the whole story and the characters you do recognise from the other books were all there and just as larger than life as before. I think book may improve with re-reading I just didn't enjoy it as much as I think was expecting.

[Book's Calling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knihu jsem poslouchal v audioverzi. Je to celkem vtipné, ale spíš mě to bavilo díky přednesu Lukáše Hlavici.

[Andrew Fulbright · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10

It’s unfortunately very clear that this is not written by Bonfiglioli. While the author does his best to capture the spirit of Mortdecai, the unique nature of his devilish attitude about the world is noticeably absent. There a few moments that shine through, but I would assume those to be the leftover scraps from Bonfiglioli.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takhle báječně by se měly psát všechny detektivky. S lehkostí a humorem, s přesně (a často) dávkovanou sklenicí whisky a s především s ne(d)ocenitelným charakterem Charlieho Mortdecaie. Jen málokterá kniha mně dokázala vehnat úsměv do tváře již po prvních stranách, pečlivě ho tam udržovala po celou dobu svého obsahu a vlastně mi sem tam znovu vklouzne na líce při vzpomínce, jaké to bylo veselé povídání. Já velím, já poroučím - uctivého pana Mortdecaie do každé domácnosti. Uvidíte, jak vám bude hnedle v životě mnohem lépe.

Ukázka z knihy:

"Ale rektor soudí, že byste přijet měl, Mortdecaii. Už se do toho případu s vervou vrhl. Nejen, že mu někdo odpravil členku kolegia, ale takzvaná vyšší místa se tuto smrt zřejmě snaží zatušovat. Tomu on nebude nečinně přihlížet, v žilách mu totiž koluje kapka irské krve. V běžném denním provozu se jeví jako hotová holubičí povaha; Jakmile v něm ale ta jeho černá krev vzkypí, nenašel byste v širém světě zuřivějšího rektora, než je tenhle. Zakousne se a nepustí."
"Jako irský teriér."
"Přesně tak. A až vám rektor dá... ech... instrukce, dozvíte se o Bronwen Fellworthyové také řadu podivuhodných skutečností od ceremoniáře, kaplana, hospodáře, kvestora a kolegy tutora z katedry srovnávací patologie."
"Váš scénář má jednu drobnou vadu na kráse, Johne. Já se letos do Oxfordu nechystám." Věnoval mým slovům asi tolik pozornosti, jako bych je napsal do písku.
"Rektor," pokračoval zcela nevzrušeně, "se mě zeptal, zda mě nenapadá nějaký absolvent naší koleje, který by byl ve zralém věku, vyznal by se v technikách sebeobrany a v metodách nenápadného pátrání, nesvazovaly by ho přílišné morální ohledy a nehrozilo by, že ho v Oxfordu každý pozná. Nejdřív mě napadl ten chlapík, co s vámi chodil do ročníku, ten s tím strašlivým italským jménem, ale knihovník mi řekl, že se vrhl na psaní románů a živí se syntaxí. To je k ničemu, je to až křiklavě vulgární. Takže jsem tu, Mortdecaii, a žádám vás, abyste uposlechl zurčivého, sladkého hlasu vaší alma mater, jež vás volá a touží vás ocelovou obručí přivinout na svá ňadra. Podle letového řádu, který jste mi tak uvážlivě položil na noční stolek, odlétá náš spoj zítra krátce po obědě."

[Emmanuel Gustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing comedy detective and adventure story, which entertains more by its language than by the mystery. The honourable Charlie Mortdecai is a very entertaining character with a mix of intelligence and silliness that keeps the reader surprised. The plot is appropriately confusing but its end fails to account for all the red herrings and disappoints a bit.

The style and atmosphere of this book probably stretches its ironic, boozy machismo rather far, so that it seems too immersed in the sigar smoke and whisky vapors of a male-only club. Some of the author's humorous descriptions are very funny, others feel a bit too artificial and elaborate. If the book were longer these faults would begin to tell against it, but fortunately it is a short, amusing story.

[C.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a different reading challenge each month. January's was to read a book made into a movie. I chose this one, a book made into a very, very BAD movie staring Johnny Depp. I guess I wanted look At the source material to see where they went so wrong. I think I've figured it out. The book, clearly written with a 70s male viewpoint, is about an English scoundrel. They are a particular sort, and the tone, one of self-satisfied certainty in the fact that he has everything under control, when he in fact has none over anything, is fun on the page. The author, from the little I can gather, should just have done his autobiography. He WAS an English scoundrel. That could have been a book, and for that matter, a movie worth seeing

[DaViD´82 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Po jazykové stránce čiré pohlazení, což je ještě povýšeno překladem, který se nebojí využít předností a hravosti češtiny v plné parádě. A v audio verzi to pak korunuje Lukáš Hlavica s až "cimrmanovskou" dikcí a čichem na hlášky. Problém jaksi je, že přes veškeré stylistické kvality a nesporně fungující suchý anglický humor se to snaží i o detektivní linii, co by nebyla pouze do počtu. A to je problém, protože do počtu ve výsledku je. Než se pořádně dostane ke slovu, tak je polovina knihy pryč a když pak přeci jen hraje první housle, tak je tuctovým průběhem hravosti zbytku knihy až nehodné.

[Veronika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skvělé čtení na dovolenou, lehké, ale přitom duchaplné a třeskutě vtipné. Fakt se těším na film, protože Johnnymu takhle role musí neuvěřitelně sednout.
Zápletka zábavná, některé slovní obraty nezapomenutelné!

[CQM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not up to the stirling work of the first three books but then dying midway though the writing can often affect the outcome.
Still plenty of laughs and a plot that doesn't really matter very much at all.

[Dymbula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tohle mě pobavilo.

[Petr Bolek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tak tohle jsem potřeboval, suchý anglický humor. Asi by to bylo na pět hvězd, kdyby tam nebylo to pochybné detektivní pátrání s naprosto stupidním koncem. Ale ten humor je nepřekonatelný. Navíc jako audiobook v perfektním podání Lukáše Hlavici. Doporučuji všem na koho jdou podzimní, zimní, jarní, letní chmury. A pro milovníky Saturnina je tohle povinnost. A vůbec na Saturnina jsem si vzpomenul více než mnohokrát.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A second viewing failed to heighten my opinion of the Fellworthy mansion. Long and flat and immacuately featureless, it had obviously been erected by an anally retentive dwarf with a low-grade O level in Lego.
'Never trust a man who lives in a bungalow, sir,' said Holmes, as we sailed up the drive, passing the hideous fence.
'At least he'll never be able to dress up as his dear deceased Mama and throw prowlers headlong down the stairs,' I riposted, recalling the fate of the poor detective who took a tumble at the Bates Motel."

Nothing is quite as deliciously dreadful as a Bonfiglioli novel. The Mortdecai series as a whole are delightfully nasty and hilariously off-piste adventure novels that have quickly cemented itself as one of my favourites. These books haven't aged a day since their release and would probably be lambasted as sexist now; that shouldn't stop you reading what is a hilarious and ridiculous farce of a series. Once you've exhausted your Wodehouse, invite Charlie, Jock, Johanna, and Holmes etc. etc. etc. into your lives.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really not for everyone. You need a patience with literary/social allusions, a dark sense of humor, and a willingness to accept Charlie Mortdecai, a corrupt, lecherous, constantly-drinking art dealer as your narrator and hero. At that, I vaguely remember the three Charlie novels from the 1980's (this one was finished by another author long after Bonfiglioli's 1985 death), and they were much darker than this one. Charlie is actually more or less on the side of the angels, and of his titular, newly-grown, much condemned moustache, this time, as he reluctantly answers the call from his old Oxford college to investigate the covered-up death of a female don, who may have made some discovery while researching that has national security implications.

[Josh Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad that I found out that Craig Brown wrote only the second-to-last chapter, just because before then I was second-guessing every last bit of it, wondering what was original and what wasn't. As a matter of fact, the first chapter or so struck me as a bit of Flanderization, with things right back to normal for Our Questionably Honorable Charlie... if only because of what a downbeat note that Something Nasty in the Woodshed ended on, and I wondered if that was Brown's doing, but nope. This book, interestingly, finds Mortdecai on the "right" side of the law for once, acting as a special inspector or...something. He ends up acquiring quite a few temporary credentials during the course of the book. I couldn't tell if that was a joke or not. I wondered whether Bonfiglioli would've kept going in that direction had he lived to write more; I can only wonder of course, but there's a very astute constable, acting as a detective, whose name is Holmes...could've ended up a recurring character, who knows. Or perhaps that would've just been the one weird quirk of this book (that and the moustache) much like the Satanic mass was the most prominent weird quirk of the last. Anyway, I liked this alright, though less than the others. and I'm sad that that's all there is to the series. Let this be a lesson to you kids; try not to die of cirrhosis. Poor guy.

[Clive Grewcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something a whole lot lighter than my preceding read which was Anne Frank's Diary. My daughter lent me this and it is a sort of updated, tongue in cheek Jeeves and Worster re-work; the kind of book that up until a year ago I'd have claimed not to like! However, I did enjoy this, although the ending is a bit thrown together, The sleeve notes suggest it is 'who done it', but given the lack of suspects I would say (de-spoilered) it is more of a 'how did he/she do it',
Recently I have moaned a bit about books having an unnecessary (and often indulgent) middle 100 or so pages. At 174 pages this avoids that trap!

[Brandon Minster · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Don't Point That Thing at Me" was great. "After You with the Pistol" was good. "Something Nasty in the Woodshed" was unenjoyable. So one good thing about "The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery" is that it reverses that trend, going back towards good. But it seemed very uneven (as I guess posthumous novels finished by others would tend to be). First Russians, capped by a pointless trip to Russia, and then the husband, and finally "hamwis"?

I'd like to think that if Bonfiglioli were writing these books now, the characters would have SOME concern about Bronwen as a person and not just as a failure of a sex object.

[Martin Pilkington · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my favourite of all of the four Charlie Mortdecai novels. It still only gets three stars which probably gives away what I thought about the first three.

This book was finished by Craig Brown, it’s not clear how much was written by Kyril Bonfiglioli and how much of the book is down to Craig Brown. There are still too many passages that are sexist, way too many for a book first published in 1999. But there are bits that are quite amusing, some of the mystery elements are quite well done.

The end of the book was disappointing, it seemed to be rushed and ended very quickly. It could have been so much better.

[Sharon Bidwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I dithered whether to read this one, it’s the novel which features the disagreement over Mordecai’s moustache, so I went ahead. A little disappointed Jock didn’t have more time on the pages, and though this book finished well (completed after Bonfiglioli’s death) I could tell the difference; something about parts of this feels like an easier read than previous books. Either the reader gets the Mordecai dry humour and appreciates it, or doesn’t. I can see it’s not for everyone. Reminiscent of many a classic and a blend of many. Incidentally, the film took a little from all the books to create a mash-up.

[Joel Choong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love my British humor fiction books. I love the imagery and the way the words paint a really funny scene, and the way that Mortdecai feels about so many things. The only thing I felt was a bit too much of a stretch was the way that the political discussions seemed to have not really added or changed much to the murder mystery of the end. I mean to say, it felt that the ending scene felt a bit too much of a forced ending. It felt similar to the end of "Something Nasty in the Woodshed", but awkward. Still going to get the last book, because I like the character of Mortdecai and Jock. Can't wait to see who hires them next (for free again).

[Tom Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

My other holiday read for summer 2019. Given its slight length, it made for an excellent starter.
As the fourth of the Mordecai novellas, it was thankfully ‘lighter’ than the last (the one with all the sexual assaults) but not as great as the first (still the series’ highpoint).
But as an Englishman abroad, the never ending mentions of food and power of “fortifying tea” stuck home quite wonderfully.

[Clive · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of this book intrigued me, but unfortunately I lost the plot before I finished reading the first chapter. Actually the plot was just too silly for words. The real mystery is why I even bothered to finish the book at all.
One star for the fact that it was only 174 pages, so I didn’t have to endure it too long.
Reading other reviews, obviously other readers enjoyed it, but not my cup of tea at all.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was enjoying my first foray into the Mortdecai books immensely... until I reached around page 148. From that point on, the plot lost all sense and I was not impressed. Since my edition was only another 25 pages or so, I completed it, but the more I read, the more it fell into idiocy. Is that the point the writing was raken over by Craig Brown upon Bonfiglioli's death? I don't know. I may try the previous 3 books.

[Matthieu Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed a thin and lightweight book to keep me entertained on a holiday. This fit the bill perfectly as a fun, light hearted story. It is partly set in Oxford, which I appreciated as I live there. Although it could have been anywhere. Nothing particularly deep or clever, but easy reading and entertaining. A little bit dated, or maybe that is just the character.

[Stig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mortdecai is back in fine form in this fourth and final adventure. The plot itself is somewhat ludicrous, especially the villain's motive, but oh! how well-written this is! Very, very funny and highly recommended.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The language and character descriptions is very nice. Also that the"hero" is a anti hero. However sometime the plot became a bit confusing with a rather strange and irrationell ending. It needed to much explaination from the character to make everything come together.

[Ben McIntire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now one of my favorite books. KB combines the wit and humor of Wodehouse with the intrigue of Ian Fleming to give us the rare gift of the Hon. Charlie Strafford van Cleef Mortdecai. I only wish there were more of these novels in existence.

[Nancy Bandusky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny and lighthearted read that moves quickly as the mystery unravels. While Mortdecai is annoying and lazy, he is amusing in his lack of social grace. Also, there are several little side comments that will cause the older reader to say, "I got that reference."

[Michal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just relax, it is an ok story with just the best language..