Mapp and Lucia

Mapp and Lucia
by E.F. Benson


Blurb:

The fourth installment of the popular series-- a hilarious study of 1930s manner and pecking order-begins when Lucia Lucas rents a summer place-the home of Elizabeth Mapp-- in the English village of Tilling. Between Miss Mapp's penchant for spying on the neighbors and Lucia's fussy sidekick, Georgie, the stage is set for a battle of wits.

My Reaction:
We didn't wait to read the next Lucia book, after all-- just kept right on going.

Very enjoyable, though some of the first part (in Riseholme) seemed slightly slow going to me, compared to the rest of the book.  Maybe that's a reflection of the fact that the author himself was (by the time of the writing of this book) less enthusiastic about Riseholme, compared to Tilling.

The whole series has been even better on the second read-through than on the first.  Witty and funny, of course, but also cozy.  I find that I remember only small bits and pieces of incidents yet to come, and specific remembered episodes always seem to pop up sooner than I'd have expected.

Highly recommended to fans of British comedy set "between the wars".