Recommended Reading: Courderoy Mansions

Many are familiar with the lovely series 'No 1 Ladies Detective Agency' by Alexander McCall Smith which has also been made into a television series.

But many might not be aware of this prolific retired professor of Medical Law's other series and even children's books.

I enjoy even more his series 'The Sunday Philosophy Club' and '44 Scotland Street' and I am an avid fan of his eccentric characters and his light, warm and amusing writing.

Corduroy Mansions is his latest series and is the award-winning online novel which he wrote exclusive to Telegraph.co.uk. I read some of the chapters online (they published one each day), but decided to get the book in the end. There is something nicer about reading a book than on the screen, I think. Each chapter is just 2-4 pages as it was initially written for a newspaper

- just perfect reading before falling asleep and it leaves you with a nice warm feeling and a smile on your face...

I am now on the hunt for book no 2 in this series!

;-)

The cast in short:

In the top flat in Courderoy Mansions lives William, with a faithful ex-vegetarian dog named Freddie de la Hay (what a fab name!!) and a freeloading son who he hopes will soon fly the nest. Four lively young women share the first-floor flat, including twinset-and-pearls Caroline from Cheltenham, Dee, vitamin addict and avid subscriber to Anti-oxidant News, and Jenny, a put-upon PA. And round the corner lives Oedipus Snark MP, possibly the world’s only loathsome Lib Dem, who has succeeded in offending everyone he knows, and many others besides. But what dark revenge is being plotted by his mother, Berthea Snark, and by his girlfriend, Barbara Ragg…?