Final curtain - Philip Ardagh

In this, the third and final of The Further Adventures of Eddie Dickens, our saucer-eyed hero Eddie Dickens finds himself embroiled in an attempt to foil a plot to steal an oil painting of Mad Uncle Jack, mistakenly commissioned by the War Office (who thought he was the other Major Dickens). Add to this the explosive mix of Even Madder Aunt Maud and Annabelle, the baby pet crocodile she now leads around on a silver chain; Dr Samuel Moot, besotted by Maud since a young man, having once shot Mad Uncle Jack (twice) in a duel; Gherkin a professional dwarf; Eddie's Uncle Alfie and surfeit of heather; and all the usual suspects (including Malcolm, of course) . . . and you're in for another slice of the ridiculous served up in the way that only Ardagh can.