''Mortdecai'' is a series of comic thriller novels written by English author

Kyril Bonfiglioli Kyril Bonfiglioli (born Cyril Emmanuel George Bonfiglioli; 29 May 1928 – 3 March 1985) was an English art-dealer, magazine editor and comic novelist. His eccentric and witty '' Mortdecai'' novels have gained a following since his death. Biograp ...

. The book series deals with the

picaresque The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corru ...

adventures of a dissolute aristocratic art dealer named Charlie Mortdecai, accompanied on his adventures by his manservant Jock. The books consisted of ''Don't Point That Thing at Me'', ''After You with the Pistol'', ''Something Nasty in the Woodshed'' and ''The Great Moustache Mystery''. The books have been translated into several languages including Spanish, French, Italian, German and Japanese. First published in the 1970s, the novels have since attained

cult status A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

."Don’t Point That Thing at Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli"
Sunday Times. Retrieved 17 October 2014
The independent. Retrieved 17 October 2014

Synopsis

''The Mortdecai Trilogy''

''Published out of chronological order''

''Don't Point that Thing at Me'' (1972)

(Reissued 2015 as ''Mortdecai'' in a film tie-in edition) Mortdecai embroils himself in a plot with a stolen

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

and the blackmail of a highly placed social figure. He manages to get Martland to have him issued with a diplomatic passport in order to secretly take the Goya to his buyer, Krampf, in America. However, Krampf is dead, and Mortdecai is in over his head. The book ends with Mortdecai apparently killing his manservant Jock and going out in a shoot-out with Martland and Martland's men. The book was awarded the 1973

CWA New Blood Dagger __NOTOC__ The CWA New Blood Dagger is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association (CWA) for first books by previously unpublished writers. It is given in memory of CWA founder John Creasey and was previously known as The John Cre ...

for the best crime novel by a hitherto unpublished writer.

''After You with the Pistol'' (1979)

Johanna coerces Mortdecai into marriage and a plot to assassinate the

Queen of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

''Something Nasty in the Woodshed'' (1976)

Mortdecai travels to the isle of

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

amidst his increasing unpopularity, and becomes embroiled in the manhunt for a

rapist Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or agai ...

Related books

''All the Tea in China'' (1978)

A historical prequel about one of Charlie's Dutch ancestors, Karli Mortdecai Van Cleef. Partly inspired by ''The China Clippers'' by

Basil Lubbock Alfred Basil Lubbock MC (9 September 1876 – 3 September 1944 at Monks Orchard, Seaford) was a British historian, sailor and soldier. He was a prolific writer on the last generation of commercial sailing vessels in the Age of Sail. He was an e ...

''The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery'' (1999)

Unfinished due to Bonfiglioli's death, the book was completed by Craig Brown. Another international chase climaxes in a showdown in Buckinghamshire.

Publication

The first three novels were collected as ''The Mortdecai Trilogy''. The book was published by

Black Spring Press Black Spring Press is an independent English publishing house founded in the early 1980s. The first Black Spring publication was a reprint of Anais Nin's ''D.H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study'', which on its first publication in 1932 had been ...

in 1991. Bonfiglioli's second wife, Margaret Bonfiglioli wrote and compiled a posthumous anthology of works and anecdotes, called ''The Mortdecai ABC'' ( UK: Penguin / Viking, 2001). Three of the Mortdecai titles are also featured in ''Fish Who Answer the Telephone'', a compendium of bizarre books & titles.

Film adaptation

The book was adapted into a feature film by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

, with Johnny Depp in the title role.

David Koepp David Koepp (; born June 9, 1963) is an American filmmaker. Koepp is the ninth most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of U.S. box office receipts with a total gross of over $2.3 billion. Koepp has achieved both critical and commercial ...

directed the film on a script by Eric Aronson. The film was released on 23 January 2015, but was a critical and commercial failure.

References

External links

Mortdecai page
at Clerical Detectives
Article on the trilogy
at

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

* {{IMDb title, 3045616 British novels adapted into films British thriller novels Clerical mysteries