The Mysterious Mickey Finn by Elliot Paul

Title: The Mysterious Mickey Finn / Author: Elliot Paul / Publisher: Dover Publications / Release Date: Out Now / Rating: 3/5

Almost as soon as the rules of detective fiction were formulated, writers began exploiting them for their comic potential. Dating from 1939, The Mysterious Mickey Finn is a spirited parody of S.S. Van Dine's Philo Vance stories, in which the omniscient Vance solves convoluted mysteries against a background of high European culture. Huge hits in their day, they now seem thoroughly deserving of mockery.

Here, the Vance figure is Homer Evans, an independently wealthy American who excels at whatever he attempts and is much sought after for his worldly wisdom, but who prefers to live a quiet life among the Bohemians of Paris' Montparnasse district. However, never one to leave a friend in need, he finds himself drawn into various shenanigans which take a serious turn when a millionaire philanthropist goes missing.

As the French police blunder about, clues are misinterpreted, misunderstandings proliferate and the prison cells fill up with a motley crew of wrongfully arrested characters, the first half of the book seems less like a mystery novel than a Howard Hawks screwball comedy or a forerunner of the Inspector Clouseau films. Elliot Paul builds the farce expertly, piling complication upon complication.

The one real problem is Homer Evans himself – Philo Vance parody he may be, but he's just as unlikely and strangely colourless as the original. That said, the subsidiary characters come off well – Miriam, Homer's gun-toting girlfriend, the long-suffering Sergeant Fremont, and Hjalmar Jansen, a roistering, larger than life painter – as does the local colour. Having lived in Paris himself in the 1920s, Elliot Paul knew all about the ways of the Left Bank, and his descriptions of wild parties at nightspots with names such as Rendez-vous des Imprevoyants have a ring of first-hand experience about them.

Best Served Cold by Sally Spencer

Title: Best Served Cold / Author: Sally Spencer / Publisher: Severn House / Release Date: 1 August 2015 / Rating: 4/5

In the latest in this '70s set series, a long-disbanded provincial rep company get back together after 20 years to revive their production of Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. Unfortunately, the whole thing has turned into a vanity project for the lead actor, Mark Cotton, who in the interim has become a household name in a cop show on the telly. Tensions build, a gruesome murder ensues right in front of the first night audience, and DCI Monika Paniatowski must investigate, even though she's expecting a baby at any moment.

During the opening stages of the novel, the seedy theatrical backdrop is handled very well, with plenty of backstage bitchiness and simmering resentments. The author creates a cast of amusingly flawed yet ultimately sympathetic characters and clearly has a lot of fun with Mark Cotton, a monster in the great tradition of vain, preening, venomously spiteful luvvies. And there's no loss of vim and verve once the investigation gets under way, largely thanks to the entertainment value of Paniatowski's two colourful sidekicks, the long-suffering DI Beresford and the spiky DS Meadows.

Throughout, Sally Spencer shows a gift for brisk narrative, crisp prose and spirited banter, while the period setting is handled so subtly than for most of the time you're scarcely aware of it. Fans of mysteries with a theatrical or showbiz milieu – especially Simon Brett's Charles Paris novels – need not hesitate.

Mrs Pargeter's Principle by Simon Brett

Title: Mrs Pargeter's Principle / Author: Simon Brett / Publisher: Severn House / Release Date: 1 August 2015 / Rating: 3/5

Simon Brett is one of the most reliably entertaining performers in the world of cozy crime, with several series to his name, from the relatively down to earth Fethering novels to the farcical country house mysteries of Blotto and Twinx. Like the latter, the Mrs Pargeter novels display the more whimsical side of Brett's talent. The eponymous Mrs Pargeter is a wealthy widow, whose late husband was apparently a criminal mastermind (one of the pleasures of the series is the slow drip-feed of information gradually filling in a picture of this mysterious but likeable figure).
 

Mrs Pargeter now passes her time investigating various cases, with the aid of sundry willing helpers with names like Truffler and Gizmo whose phone numbers she finds in her late husband's little black book. In this new tale, she delves into the past of another one of her husband's old acquaintances, a recently deceased knight of the realm, only to quickly find herself on the end of threats and reprisals.

It's a leisurely adventure, with plenty of opportunity for long lunches at Mrs Pargeter's favourite hotel, and the resourceful lady even has time to plan a wedding. The settings are chic – Mrs P's mansion in Chigwell sounds very nice – the dialogue is droll, and the comical supporting characters, especially Gary, Mrs P's lovelorn chauffeur, are as deftly drawn as one would expect from a writer of Brett's pedigree. Arguably, it's all a little too fanciful and removed from everyday reality for its own good, but it will keep Brett's fans going nicely until the next Charles Paris or Fethering novel comes along.