Biffy didn't like enigmas - they were out of fashion.

No, Lord Maccon was riproaring, tumble down, without a doubt, pickled beyond the gherkin.

It's no good choosing your first husband from a school for evil geniuses. Much too difficult to kill.

Lord Maccon was built like a brick outhouse, with opinions twice as unmoving and often equally full of crap.

Acknowledgements With grateful thanks to the three least-appreciated and hardest-working proselytizers of the written word: independent bookstores, librarians, and teachers.

Cats were not, in her experience, an animal with much soul. Prosaic, practical little creatures as a general rule. It would suit her very well to be thought catlike.

Madame Lefoux accepted a cup of tea and sat on another little settee, next to the relocated calico cat. The cat clearly believed Madame Lefoux was there to provide chin scratches. Madame Lefoux provided.