Lynne Truss Books

***Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2021*** THE ACCLAIMED MURDER MYSTERY FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PERFECT FOR FANS OF RICHARD OSMAN 'Funny, clever, charming, imaginative and nostalgic' The Times 'Terrific' Mail on Sunday 'A giddy spell of sheer delight' Daily Mail The August bank holiday is approaching and after two extremely high-profile murder cases, Constable Twitten is eagerly anticipating a quiet spell at work. But then they find the bodies - and the milk bottles. Three seemingly unconnected victims - a hard-working AA patrolman, a would-be Beauty Queen, a catty BBC radio personality - have all been killed with the same, highly unusual murder weapon. Constable Twitten, Sergeant Brunswick and Inspector Steine are initially baffled, the town is alarmed, and the local newspaper is delighted: after all, what sells papers better than a killer on the loose? Can our redoubtable trio solve the case and catch this most curious of killers before they strike again? 'The glorious return of Constable Twitten is a cause for celebration... the fun is in Truss's keen ear for dialogue, original comic characters and affectionate(ish) recreation of a seaside resort in its slightly sleazy heyday' Sunday Times Crime Club

The bestselling author of 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' offers children a helping hand. Illustrated with hilarious cartoons this book shows how you really can't manage without apostrophes.

'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' illuminates the absurd confusion that the dot with a tail can cause. Illustrations show how misplacing or leaving out a comma can change the meaning of a sentence completely.

The punctuation workout for sticklers and rookies alike.

A Times Crime Novel of the Year In the second instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series, our trio of detectives must investigate the murder of a hapless romantic; an aristocratic con man on the prowl; and a dodgy Brighton nightspot...It is summer in Brighton and the Brighton Belles are on hand to answer any holidaymaker's queries, no matter how big or small. The quickest way to the station, how many pebbles are on the beach and what exactly has happened to that young man lying in the deckchair with blood dripping from him?Constable Twitten has a hunch that the fiendish murder may be connected to a notorious Brighton nightspot and the family that run it, but Inspector Steine is - as ever - distracted by other issues, not least having his own waxwork model made and an unexpected arrival, while Sergeant Brunswick is just delighted to have spied an opportunity to finally be allowed to go undercover...Our incomparable team of detectives are back for another outing in the new instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series.

In the tradition of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads come Lynne Truss's twelve bittersweet tales about love, romance, friendship and family. Her six men and six women each have very different stories to tell, ranging from the wife who feels better when her husband disappears to the pedant who undergoes a TV makeover and the swimmer who can't escape the shadow of her sister...but all are funny, touching and as beautifully observed as would be expected from the bestselling author. Whether describing fathers and daughters, married men, cat-lovers or "other women", she is always brilliantly perceptive. These monologues were first aired on BBC Radio 4. You can download an excerpt from one of them below. Listen to excerpt (4mb mp3 file) (Credit: A Certain Age: The Men's Monologues published by BBC Audiobooks and available on CD (�15.99, contains 3 CDs) from 5th February)

'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' adopts a militant approach to punctuation and attempts to recruit an army of vigilantes who will send letters back with the punctuation corrected, not accept sloppy emails, and climb ladders with pots of paint to remove redundant apostrophes from signs.

From the bestselling author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, a hilarious new book from Lynne Truss about her strange journey through the world of sport and sports journalism.

It's September in the British beach town of Brighton, and the city is playing host to weeks of endless rain and some brand new villains. A trusted member of a local gang has disappeared part way through planning a huge heist; a violent criminal has escaped a local prison, and at Gosling's department store an American researcher has been found dead. Inspector Steine has other things on his mind, but Sergeant Brunswick and Constable Twitten are both on the case. If only they could work out just who is behind these dastardly acts. Print run 30,000.

After the notorious 'Middle Street Massacre' of 1951, when the majority of Brighton's criminals wiped one another out in a vicious battle as the local police force enjoyed a brief stop en route for an ice cream, Inspector Steine rather enjoys life as a policeman. No criminals, no crime, no stress. He just wishes Sergeant Brunswick would stop insisting that perhaps not every criminal was wiped out that fateful day. So it's really rather annoying when an ambitious – not to mention irritating – new Constable shows up to work and starts investigating a series of burglaries. And it's even more annoying when, after Constable Twitten is despatched to the theatre for the night, he sits next to a vicious theatre critic who is promptly shot dead part way through the opening night of a new play. It seems Brighton may be in need of a police force after all…

The scene: a cottage on the coast on a windy evening. Inside, a room with curtains drawn. Tea has just been made. A kettle still steams.Under a pool of yellow light, two figures face each other across a kitchen table. A man and a cat.The story about to be related is so unusual yet so terrifyingly plausible that it demands to be told in a single sitting.The man clears his throat, and leans forward, expectant.'Shall we begin?' says the cat ...

The new novel from the bestselling author of THE SIXTH WIFE.

The alternative I Don't Know How She Does It Belinda Johansson is a woman frantic, overwhelmed by the demands of work and home. Having it all? Pah. Belinda doesn't want any of it. Deep in research for her magnum opus - a definitive account of the doppelg�nger in classic gothic fiction - she fails to notice the echoes of these ghoulish tales disturbingly close at hand. For not only is the cleaning lady taking over her life, but the identity of her husband, Stefan, is also in question. Is he a harmless geneticist from Sweden, or actually a cunning clone? Why is the cleaning lady's previous employer having a breakdown, and what on earth has the rat circus got to do with any of this?

Sticklers unite! The Queen of Zero Tolerance takes on the sorry state of modern manners, in the spirit of her three million copy worldwide bestseller, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. "Talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening," the saying goes. When did the world get to be so rude? When did society become so inconsiderate? It's a topic that has been simmering for years, and Lynne Truss says that it has now reached boiling point. Taking on the boorish behaviour that has become a point of pride for some, Talk to the Hand is a rallying cry for courtesy. Like Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Talk to the Hand is a spirited conversation, not a stuffy guidebook. It is not about forks, for a start. Why hasn't your nephew ever thanked you for that perfect Christmas present? What makes your builder think he can treat you like dirt in your own home? When you phone a utility with a complaint (and have negotiated the switchboard), why can't you ever speak to a person who is authorised to apologise? What accounts for the appalling treatment you receive in shops? Most important, what will it take to roll back a culture that applauds rudeness and finds it so amusing? For anyone who's fed up with the brutality inflicted by modern manners (and is naturally too scared to confront the actual yobs), Talk to the Hand is a colourful call to arms - from the wittiest defender of the civilised world.