BAGTHORPES LIBERATED

In part #7 of their saga, the Bagthorpes are up to their usual shenanigans--if anything about this hilarious family can be described as usual. Following their arrival home from vacation, there's reluctance all round to enter the house lest a murderer be lurking under some bed, followed by a typically madcap welcome for the vagrant who's actually found in one. Mrs. Bagthorpe is trying to organize everyone to share the housework, but that doomed effort is almost a detail amidst the wild tangents, interpolated mix-ups, leitmotif of screeching Valkyries on a cracked record, depredations of enfant terrible Daisy, etc. These very British stories may not be everyone's cup of tea, but--line by line and page by page--fans will swear there's nothing funnier than this blend of verbal wit and inspired slapstick.