Topper Takes a Trip

This is the second outing of Cosmo Topper and his ghostly friends, and time has gone by, the author is six years older and even more world-weary. Although this time the action is set in France, which gives him a chance to have a go at the French as well as the Americans.

I originally preferred this second book, but now I find the first rather charming—childish in a nice way. The second book has its moments, but it displays a more adolescent sense of humour with a touch of malice, which may not appeal unless you're in the mood for it.

By now we're into the 1930s, and sex is permitted—adulterous sex, even—although quite discreetly and not in front of the cameras. This comes as something of a relief: two consecutive novels in which Cosmo and Marion fail to consummate their relationship would have been too much to swallow, at least for modern readers.