Книга: Corduroy Mansions (McCall Smith Alexander); Abacus, 2010

Welcome to Corduroy Mansions in Pimlico: a temple of Arts and Crafts architecture, with comforting, weathered brickwork and frankly frivolous dormer windows, it is home to a delightfully eccentric cast of Londoners.

In the top flat lives William, with a faithful ex-vegetarian dog named Freddie de la Hay 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...?