French Fried: one man's move to France with too many animals and an identity thief

French Fried: one man's move to France with too many animals and an identity thief
Author: Chris Dolley
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2010-06-24
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1452476608

** New York Times Bestseller ** Animals behaving badly, other people's misfortunes and the most bizarre true crime story ever. French Fried is the unfortunately true account of Chris Dolley's first eight months in France and has been described as 'A Year in Provence with Miss Marple and Gerald Durrell.' Just when Chris and Shelagh think nothing more could possibly go wrong, they discover that Chris's identity has been stolen and their life savings - all the money from their house sale in England that was going to finance their new life in France - had disappeared. A bank account had been opened in Chris's name in Spain to take the proceeds. Then they're abandoned by the police forces of four countries who all insist the crime belongs in someone else's jurisdiction. The French say it's an Irish crime as that's where the money was held. The Irish say it's French as that's where all the correspondence came from. The British say it's nothing to do with them even though forged British passports were used to open the bank account in Spain. And the Spanish are on holiday - and can't even think about investigating any bank account for at least four weeks. So Chris has to solve the crime himself. But unlike fictional detectives he has an 80 year-old mother-in-law and an excitable puppy who insist they come along if he's going anywhere interesting - like a stakeout. REVIEWS "This was a fantastic read. It had me laughing so much that I nearly got relegated to the sofa! Once I had started reading this book, I could not put it down, I was even quite happy to miss my favourite TV programmes!" - Bookmarked "When I downloaded this book this morning, I had every intention of putting it on my phone and reading it in dribs and drabs. And now I appear to have finished the book! The best thing about 'French Fried' is it's sense of humour; warm, self-deprecating, and very British. Literally laugh out loud in several places (I'm glad I'm the only one home!)." - Librarything "Chris Dolley's humour reminds me of James Herriot at times, with my husband shushing me in the middle of the night. I could not put this book down and enjoyed it immensely. The characters, especially Nan, were life-size." - Salammi

The Aunt Paradox

The Aunt Paradox
Author: Chris Dolley
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2014-06-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1611383919

HG Wells has a problem. His Aunt Charlotte has borrowed his time machine and won’t give it back. Now she’s rewriting history! Reggie Worcester, gentleman’s consulting detective, and his automaton valet, Reeves, are hired to retrieve the time machine and put the timeline back together. But things get complicated. Dead bodies start piling up behind Reggie’s sofa, as he finds himself embroiled in an ever-changing murder mystery. A murder mystery where facts can be rewritten, and the dead don’t always stay dead. This 100 page novella is the third instalment in the Reeves and Worcester Steampunk Mysteries. "A fun blend of P.G. Wodehouse, steampunk and a touch of Sherlock Holmes. Dolley is a master at capturing and blending all these elements. More than fascinating, this work is also rip-roaring fun!" - SF Revu

The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall

The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall
Author: Chris Dolley
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2016-02-09
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1611385547

Wodehouse steampunk version of The Hound of the Baskervilles! "Jeeves and Wooster meet Holmes and Watson with a touch of steampunk in the hilarious first full-length Reeves and Worcester tale ... This laugh-out-loud parody works on several levels ... With razor-sharp wit and fast pacing that plays fair with the reader, this is an excellent genre mash-up that fires on all cylinders." - Publishers Weekly An escaped cannibal, a family curse ... and Reginald Worcester turning up on the doorstep. Could things get any worse for the Baskerville-Smythe family? As the bodies pile up, only a detective with a rare brain - and Reggie's is so rare it's positively endangered - can even hope to solve the case. But... there is the small matter that most of the guests aren't who they say they are, the main suspect has cloven feet, and a strange mist hangs over great Grimdark Mire. Luckily the young master has Reeves, his automaton valet, and Emmeline, his suffragette fiancée, on hand to assist. This novel is the fifth Reeves & Worcester Steampunk mystery. The first two mysteries were published in the ebook What Ho, Automaton! The first four were published in the trade paperback What Ho, Automata. REVIEWS: "A sheer delight to read and Mr. Dolley channeled Wodehouse beautifully." - Mary R. Fairchild "Dolley melds steampunk with Wodehousian manor house mystery, with a dash of Sherlock Holmes and Oscar Wilde thrown in, making a delightful whole that had me laughing out loud." - Sherwood Smith "Totally awesome." - Elizabeth Sorenson "Chris Dolley has perfectly recreated the characters and storytelling style of P. G. Wodehouse. "The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall" is very highly recommended." - Midwest Book Review "I haven't read a series of books in my entire life that made me laugh out loud at least four times and uncountable chuckles. Every one was absolutely hilarious and certainly the best parodies of Holmes and Watson that I have come across." - Peter S Jasion "Chris Dolley has created a pastiche that evokes as many laughs as the original Bertie and Jeeves, if not more." - Kadlady "Very clever writing and I laughed out loud." - Sally Evans "This book is a delight. It perfectly catches the spirit and the humour of the original PG Wodehouse works while adding a whole new dimension." - Hopback "Chris Dolley does an excellent job of imitating Wodehouse's writing style and pays a bit of homage to Oscar Wilde. Reading Reggie's attempts to emulate famous detectives and solve this Baskerville mystery is hilarious. Laughs abounded. I highly recommend this book." - Howard Poston

Free Cornish Army: And Other Stuff I Could Have Been Arrested For

Free Cornish Army: And Other Stuff I Could Have Been Arrested For
Author: Chris Dolley
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Total Pages: 47
Release: 2019-09-11
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1611388368

A short memoir of a huge hoax. The true story of a student who, to publicise Plymouth Charities Week, created the Free Cornish Army and convinced the UK media that Cornwall had risen up and declared independence. As he told police at the time, "It was only a small country, and I did give it back." But how do you follow a hoax that pushed the 1974 general election result off the front page? Well... This 36-page memoir contains five hilarious stories from Chris's early life - from the Free Cornish Army and other outrageous Rag Week stunts, to the day he created the most aggressive chess program the world has ever seen. Chris Dolley's first memoir - French Fried: One Man's Move to France With Too Many Animals and an Identity Thief - was a New York Times bestseller. "A splendid hoax," - Punch

A Year in Provence

A Year in Provence
Author: Peter Mayle
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2010-05-19
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 0307755495

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs. He endures January's frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.

Sophie's World

Sophie's World
Author: Jostein Gaarder
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 735
Release: 2007-03-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1466804270

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

Tales from a Not-So-Friendly Frenemy

Tales from a Not-So-Friendly Frenemy
Author: Rachel Renee Russell
Publisher: Thorndike Striving Reader
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2020-04
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781432874841

"Nikki Maxwell has the worst luck. Of all the schools she could have been assigned to for the student exchange week program, she's stuck at North Hampton Hills, her arch nemesis MacKenzie Hollister's new school. Even worse, there might just be someone at NHH who can out-MacKenzie MacKenzie! At least Nikki can write about every moment of drama in her diary, so readers won't miss a moment of it. Can the queen of dorks survive a week at the head CCP's new school or will it be a dorky disaster? ("--

What Ho, Automaton!

What Ho, Automaton!
Author: Chris Dolley
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2011-04-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 161138060X

** Finalist for the 2012 WSFA Award ** "A fun blend of P.G. Wodehouse, steampunk and a touch of Sherlock Holmes. Dolley is a master at capturing and blending all these elements. More than fascinating, this work is also rip-roaring fun!" - SF Revu The adventures of Reggie Worcester, gentleman consulting detective, and his automaton valet, Reeves. "Dolley got me to laugh out loud near the end. Which, frankly, is VERY hard to do. Dolley's tone is spot on Wodehouse and the steampunk elements tie into both plot and silliness admirably." - Gail Carriger, author of Soulless Reggie, an avid reader of detective fiction, knows two things about solving crime: One, the guilty party is always the person - and, occasionally, the orang-utan - one least suspects. And, two, a consulting detective's little grey cells require plenty of fish and frequent lubrication when confronted with a 'three cocktail problem.' Reeves needs all his steam-powered cunning and intellect to curb the young master's excessive flights of fancy. And prevent him from getting engaged. The book contains two stories set in an alternative 1903 where an augmented Queen Victoria is still on the throne and automata are a common sight below stairs. What Ho, Automaton! - a 32 page novelette about how the two met. Something Rummy This Way Comes - a 164 page short novel chronicling their first case. When Reggie discovers that four debutantes have gone missing in the first month of The London Season and, for fear of scandal, none of the families have called the police, he feels compelled to investigate. With the help of Reeves's giant brain and extra helpings of fish, he conducts an investigation that only a detective of rare talent could possibly envisage. Mystery, Zeppelins, Aunts and Humour. A steam-powered Wodehouse pastiche. REVIEWS "A fun blend of P.G. Wodehouse, steampunk and a touch of Sherlock Holmes. Dolley is a master at capturing and blending all these elements. More than fascinating, this work is also rip-roaring fun! But where Dolley really excels is in capturing the atmosphere and humor of the Bertie and Jeeves stories. Any Wodehouse fan will want to grab a copy of this work, but even if you have never explored that world, What Ho, Automaton! is a fun and fascinating read. Highly recommended, take a spin in this steampunk hybrid and enjoy the ride!" - SF Revu "I found myself laughing out loud at Reggie and the fabulous Reeves as they romped their way through various adventures. A homage to Wodehouse without being sycophantic, this is fantastic." Sueo23 "I enjoyed every page of this book. A steampunk novel that combines classic British Humor, tongue-in-cheek references to Sherlock Holmes and a cast of great characters. I don't think I've actually laughed out loud this much while reading a book in a very long time." ErisAerie

Indianapolis Monthly

Indianapolis Monthly
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2001-12
Genre:
ISBN:

Indianapolis Monthly is the Circle City’s essential chronicle and guide, an indispensable authority on what’s new and what’s news. Through coverage of politics, crime, dining, style, business, sports, and arts and entertainment, each issue offers compelling narrative stories and lively, urbane coverage of Indy’s cultural landscape.