Back in March this collection of mini-reviews included the first book in the Reeves & Worcestor Steampunk Mysteries series. I just finished the next two novella-length books and would highly recommend these hilarious sendups of Wodehouse’s Jeeves & Wooster series (in this universe, Reeves/Jeeves is a steam-powered automaton and Worcester/Wooster has delusions of being a consulting detective on the order of Sherlock Holmes).

Title: Reggiecide (Book 2)
Author: Chris Dolley
Genre: Humorous Steampunk Mystery
Pages: 81 (audiobook 2 hours 7 minutes)
Rating: 5 of 5 (audiobook narration 1 of 5)

So far, this is my favorite book in the series in terms of story. It could be read stand-alone, but does reference plot points from the first book: most notably, the existence of Prometheans (reanimated corpses). You can guess the identity of the most recently raised promethean from the cover. Hilarity ensues as Worcester tries to find out where Guy has run off to, what he might be planning, and just what is so menacing about Roger Mortimer with a poker…

I do not recommend listening to the Audible version of this narrated by Kieran Phoenix Chantrey. It is one of the worst audiobooks I have encountered. He gives the suave Reeves an uneducated cockney accent so that rather than sounding like the smartest, poshest person in the room he sounds like a London cabby. The narrator mispronounces words such as: apse (to the detriment of a funny joke), draught, misshapen, and Nebuchadnezzar (absolutely butchered it several different ways…clearly he’s never been to Sunday school). His female voice (for Worcester’s girlfriend: a suffragette who likes chaining herself to things) sounds exactly like Hugh Laurie doing an intentionally bad girl voice in Blackadder. Worst of all, he will start a phrase, realize that the voice or intonation isn’t quite right and repeat the whole thing…without it being edited out of the recording (once starting over multiple times in the course of a single sentence).

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. The author continues his pitch-perfect imitation of P. G. Wodehouse’s style while crafting his own zany steampunk story. Just avoid the audiobook…

Title: The Aunt Paradox (Book 3)
Author: Chris Dolley
Genre: Humorous Steampunk Mystery
Pages: 135 (audiobook 2 hours 35 minutes)
Rating: 4.5 of 5

In this installment, things go all wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey when H. G. Wells’s (call him Bertie) aunt steals his time machine. The story pulls in classic time travel tropes from Back to the Future, Doctor Who, and more. The plot is well-written as far as “messing up and then trying to fix the timeline” stories go. I might have to read or listen to it again to see how well it all hangs together, but it was as lighthearted and enjoyable as the first two books in the series.

The narration of the audiobook was much better than in Reggiecide. Paul J. Rose does an excellent job, reminding me of my favorite narrator for the Jeeves & Wooster books (Jonathan Cecil). I highly recommend these books for lighthearted fun; especially if you are a fan of P. G. Wodehouse.