The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer (Gallery, £16.99)
Bob Mortimer is the latest celebrity to follow a bestselling memoir with fiction, in this case a crime novel set in drab south-east London. Your enjoyment will largely depend on your view of the main character, Gary, whose quirkily comedic observations will amuse or irritate, according to taste. A failed solicitor, he is drifting through life – the office, the pub, a barely furnished flat, lacklustre relationships. Then an acquaintance, Brendan, is killed and a young woman disappears after a meet-cute in said pub, without telling Gary her name but leaving a novel called The Satsuma Complex on the table. Gary and his crabby neighbour Grace – who suspects that the detectives who’ve informed him of Brendan’s death may not be police officers at all – team up as an investigative odd couple, and the plot thickens. The pace picks up nicely after a slow start, and although there’s not a whole lot in the way of emotional depth on offer, this is a breezy and diverting read.
