Still very silly, but slightly less ridiculous than the last one. Only slightly. I do like that they're quite unpredictable, but that's mainly because Albert is SO mysterious and refuses to explain anything. I think it's a fairly shoddy writing technique, since there's no chance the reader could possibly figure out what is going on (half the fun with a detective novel!) so I've decided to treat them a bit more like a fantasy. Albert Campion as the mysterious stranger who knows everything that's going on, turns up at the right time, the miraculous coincidences that keep happening, the supernatural elements (always explained away with science) - all it needs are some aliens, time travel and the world in danger and we've got a plausible Dr Who episode. It'd be nice to do away with the racial stereotypes though, these dodgy brown people are so derivative! (...and boring, two-dimensional, unbelievable, etc. etc.) I suppose it is nice that she bothered to include any ethnic diversity at all, I can't say that her compatriots did that very much. Let's face it, the whole book is a passing parade of tropes and stereotypes (yokels, thugs, gangsters, aristocrats, hobos, Americans, Jews, "bohemian artists", Gypsies etc. etc.). Two stars for the crazy witch, and the creepy thing on guard in the East Wing.