What do you think?
Rate this book
Batch Magna #3
The Batch Magna Caper
A hapless gang of crooks, led by pawnbroker Harold Sneed, have managed pull off ‘the big one’: a wages snatch at a factory in Shrewsbury. Two gang members take the money back to Birmingham by train, changing at a station almost on the doorstep of Sir Humphrey of Batch Hall. It’s there that things start to unravel. The money goes missing. Misunderstanding follows misunderstanding, until it leads the crooks to Batch Hall when everyone is busy with a historical re-enactment show. Among the replica firearms is a real gun, carried by Harold Sneed with murderous intent and Humphrey in mind. Sneed is now convinced that Humphrey – an overweight former short-order cook from the Bronx – is a Mafia mobster lying low. And on top of this, he believes Humph has his money; as a result, the spectators at Batch Hall are in for more of a show than they bargained for… “ An enchanting mixture of The Wind in The Willows and The Darling Buds of May . An England that doesn’t exist but surely should.” “Reading this book was like sitting down for a nice long chat with an old friend . I loved reading the Welsh village descriptions; it felt like coming home. … I eagerly await the next instalment of the Batch Magna crew!” “I first got this book out of the local library, and then brought a copy – I wanted to read it again and again . It’s a treasure, a smashing read, funny and beautifully written.” “These books are such fun, darkly comic and full of great characters . … Batch Magna is a place I would love to find, and the river sounds idyllic.” “ Hurrah for Batch Magna , Humphrey and friends.” “I loved this book. It’s lyrical and very amusing, with all the charm of an old Ealing comedy . … More please Mr Maughan!” “ What an amazing writer! I have never found any descriptive writing that has gripped me so much before.” “ A thoroughly enjoyable read. … Is there another Batch Magna book on the way, please? Such a wonderfully descriptive bucolic and warmly ‘human’ story with echoes of the Darling Buds of May .” “ A wonderful, funny, well-crafted escape from everyday life. If you love writing that absorbs you into the landscape you will love this book. Every sense was satisfied with the author’s beautiful descriptions of the Marches. Escape from the tarmac, concrete and relentlessness of life with this stunning book. Thank you Mr Maughan.” “I absolutely loved this book and all the characters became so real to me, I just couldn’t put it down. ”
400 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2014
13 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Peter Maughan
11 books27 followersPeter Maughan is an ex-actor, fringe theatre director and script writer. He is married and lives in the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales, and the backdrop to the Batch Magna series of novels, set in a village cut off from whatever the rest of the world gets up to beyond the hills of its valley.
All the books in the series feature houseboats, converted paddle steamers on Batch Magna’s river the Cluny, and the author lived on a houseboat in the mid-1970s (the time frame for the novels) on a converted Thames sailing barge among a small colony of houseboats on the Medway, deep in rural Kent.
An idyllic time, heedless days of freedom in that other world of the river which inspired the novels, set in a place called Batch Magna.
All the books in the series feature houseboats, converted paddle steamers on Batch Magna’s river the Cluny, and the author lived on a houseboat in the mid-1970s (the time frame for the novels) on a converted Thames sailing barge among a small colony of houseboats on the Medway, deep in rural Kent.
An idyllic time, heedless days of freedom in that other world of the river which inspired the novels, set in a place called Batch Magna.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 4, 2014
Peter had my attention on the first page with the introduction of Major Smythe, as a former prison librarian. His plot is fun, his prose is lovely:
He really would have preferred a better class of rival;
Sneed had so little experience in telling the truth.
I collected a new idea for the perfect robbery.
All in all a delightful tale from a delightful author.
He really would have preferred a better class of rival;
Sneed had so little experience in telling the truth.
I collected a new idea for the perfect robbery.
All in all a delightful tale from a delightful author.
August 24, 2016
This was the second time I read "The Batch Magna Caper", and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time round. Alas for that bugbear of all writers -- just a few fewer typo's and I'd have awarded five stars.
August 20, 2014
The third in the continuing saga of the Batch Magna denizens, a collective of terminally quirky, charmingly potty, elegantly eccentric, unique characters who celebrate the joys of living in a special place half in Wales, half in England and perennially in thrall to the latest bit of juicy gossip.
If you haven't already done so, I would strongly advise reading the first two books first (“The Cuckoos of Batch Magna” and “Sir Humphrey of Batch Hall”) which will set you up to enjoy this one even more. This book is quite different from its predecessors, to the point that, at first, I hardly recognized the style and locale. Instead of spinning the same cosy yarn, Peter Maughan has courageously introduced a very different criminal thread that weaves its way through the well-loved cloth of the tales of Batch Magna. It takes a brave man to muddy the waters that so many have become addicted to, but fear not: he hasn't lost the plot but rather found another one.
The book opens in a shady pawnbroker's shop where a cast of new-to-us villains plan a daring robbery, a wage snatch, of such magnitude that, if successful, it would change their lives for ever. The books are set in the 70's, so £100,000 represents a fair fortune, even when split among the five unlikely partners. To balance the criminal element, the author brings in the opposing forces of the law, in the shape of a female sergeant affianced to her inspector, and sundry other police officers of various rank. And here the author displays his full grasp of humanity in crafting another set of unforgettable personalities, as distinct from each other as they are from the characters of the previous books. The heist sets off a complex, convoluted and frequently hilarious comedy of errors which challenges the truism about honour among thieves and the interrelated loyalties of the Batch Magna river community, until we, and they, are so confused that it is difficult to know whom to trust.
All our favourite river rats are present: the Commander and Priny, faced with a life-changing decision; Jasmine and her brood of children of uncertain number; Annie and Owain, very much in the swing of things; Phineas Cook, plumbing new depths of depravity; and the land-locked ones: Miss Wyndham, Tom Parr and the rest of that motley lot. To my delight, most of the later action centres on Batch Hall, once more a family home, where (two years on from the last book) Sir Humphrey and Lady Clementine run a fledgling B&B with capable help from Humph's mother Shelly and toddler daughter Hawis.
But the new character who, for me, steals the show is 10-year-old George, a fatherless boy taken under Humph's substantial wing. Trained and hardened by the pages of the Intrepid, and similar boys' adventure comics, George lives his real life adventures big and in Technicolor with stoic acceptance of the curious world of adults. The caper is finally wrapped up with a bang but many important issues are left unresolved and, with fiendish deliberation, Maughan divulges that more is on the way in his fourth instalment, “Man Overboard”. Oh goody!
If you haven't already done so, I would strongly advise reading the first two books first (“The Cuckoos of Batch Magna” and “Sir Humphrey of Batch Hall”) which will set you up to enjoy this one even more. This book is quite different from its predecessors, to the point that, at first, I hardly recognized the style and locale. Instead of spinning the same cosy yarn, Peter Maughan has courageously introduced a very different criminal thread that weaves its way through the well-loved cloth of the tales of Batch Magna. It takes a brave man to muddy the waters that so many have become addicted to, but fear not: he hasn't lost the plot but rather found another one.
The book opens in a shady pawnbroker's shop where a cast of new-to-us villains plan a daring robbery, a wage snatch, of such magnitude that, if successful, it would change their lives for ever. The books are set in the 70's, so £100,000 represents a fair fortune, even when split among the five unlikely partners. To balance the criminal element, the author brings in the opposing forces of the law, in the shape of a female sergeant affianced to her inspector, and sundry other police officers of various rank. And here the author displays his full grasp of humanity in crafting another set of unforgettable personalities, as distinct from each other as they are from the characters of the previous books. The heist sets off a complex, convoluted and frequently hilarious comedy of errors which challenges the truism about honour among thieves and the interrelated loyalties of the Batch Magna river community, until we, and they, are so confused that it is difficult to know whom to trust.
All our favourite river rats are present: the Commander and Priny, faced with a life-changing decision; Jasmine and her brood of children of uncertain number; Annie and Owain, very much in the swing of things; Phineas Cook, plumbing new depths of depravity; and the land-locked ones: Miss Wyndham, Tom Parr and the rest of that motley lot. To my delight, most of the later action centres on Batch Hall, once more a family home, where (two years on from the last book) Sir Humphrey and Lady Clementine run a fledgling B&B with capable help from Humph's mother Shelly and toddler daughter Hawis.
But the new character who, for me, steals the show is 10-year-old George, a fatherless boy taken under Humph's substantial wing. Trained and hardened by the pages of the Intrepid, and similar boys' adventure comics, George lives his real life adventures big and in Technicolor with stoic acceptance of the curious world of adults. The caper is finally wrapped up with a bang but many important issues are left unresolved and, with fiendish deliberation, Maughan divulges that more is on the way in his fourth instalment, “Man Overboard”. Oh goody!
August 20, 2014
What would you buy if you robbed a bank or, better yet, “found” the fortune? Peter Maughan, in the third book of his beloved Batch Magna series, takes us into both the villagers’ and robbers’ minds. The result is surprisingly the same: most want merely a comfortable bed with a hearty breakfast, a day at the seaside, curtains, a new cooker, a cruise, or enough to pay a bill. One of the robbers wants to be respectable, a part of the Rotary Club or Masons. As always in the Batch Magna series, there is humor, familiar characters (yes, Phineas is flirting and getting into more trouble); officious “truisms” (there is an “International Crooks Ltd hereby if in a foreign country with the need to hire someone, they can go to the local labor exchange to find a criminal...”); finely honed descriptive prose, and all those additional enchanting elements that can only occur on the mystical borderland of Wales and England. As the Sultan said to that peerless storyteller Scheherazade, “Tell me more!” I eagerly await the next adventure!
October 2, 2014
Peter Maughan has done it again! The Batch Magna Caper is a rollicking good read of a book! It has a well planned heist by experienced crooks, cases of mistaken identity, and the honest inhabitants of Batch Magna. Of course Phineas Cooke and most of the other residents are involved in one way or another along with a couple new characters from neighboring areas that the reader will hope to see again in future books.
I wish Batch Magna was real for I would love to vacation there one day. I would visit the shops and churches, head to the pub for a pint, stroll the grounds of the castle, maybe even have a couple of Shelly's coneys, and visit the families living on the retired boats and the Commander and Priny in their cottage. Peter Maughan has created a place and characters that seem incredibly real. This reader is very happy that she gets to travel there with each new book.
I wish Batch Magna was real for I would love to vacation there one day. I would visit the shops and churches, head to the pub for a pint, stroll the grounds of the castle, maybe even have a couple of Shelly's coneys, and visit the families living on the retired boats and the Commander and Priny in their cottage. Peter Maughan has created a place and characters that seem incredibly real. This reader is very happy that she gets to travel there with each new book.
April 18, 2017
I love this whole series of books. Funny, gentle evocative. Highly recommended
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews