Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
William George Rushton, commonly known as Willie Rushton (18 August 1937 – 11 December 1996) was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the Private Eye satirical magazine.
He is honoured by a Comic Heritage blue plaque at Mornington Crescent tube station, a reference to the game Mornington Crescent on the BBC radio comedy show, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, on which he was a regular panellist.
Originally published on my blog here in February 2001.
William Rushton embroils probably the most famous cricketer of all time in an outrageous and hilarious investigation into the death of Castor Vilbastard (pronounced Vilibart, as he and his twin brother Pollux insist), as he is about to bowl at Grace at Lord's. This investigation, which has its roots in a disastrous MCC tour of the US a few years earlier, leads Grace and co-investigators John Watson and A.J. Raffles to Paris and then to the moon, encountering such famous real and fictional Victorians as Mrs Beeton, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde. Supremely silly, and consistently funny, W.G. Grace's Last Case is extremely enjoyable.
Hilarious! Set in Victorian London, shortly after the Martian invasion, it features Dr. W.G. Grace (cricketer), Dr. Watson (sidekick) and Dr. Jekyll (mad scientist) against the evil twins, Castor and Pollux Vilebastard (pronounced "Villibart")