I tried hard with book but unfortunately I couldn’t take to it.
I can appreciate the humour being likened to Wodehouse and the set up being like a Christie mystery, but the style of writing doesn’t appeal to me but if it’s a style you like then you’ll really enjoy it so I’m trying to be fair here in my review.

My thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for a copy of “:Phone For The Fish Knives” for an honest review.
After many recommendations for Daisy Waughs books I decided to try a couple. , “In The Crypt With The Candlestick”: and this title .I couldn’t really take to the first and after trying this title I’ve come to the conclusion her novels just aren’t for me.
I can appreciate the humour being likened to Wodehouse and the set up being like a Christie mystery, but the style of writing doesn’t appeal to me.
Unfortunately only able to give this an average score but seeing others raving reviews I seem in the minority

Phone for the Fish Knives by Daisy Waugh has Hollywood coming to call at Tode Hall - it's being used for a film adaptation of a book, and so everywhere is overrun with crew, cast and trailers!  And, of course, egos!

The normal residents and employees of Tode Hall are still around, though India and Egbery plan to jet off for most of the filming.  But not before they have a grand dinner with selected people from the cast, crew and the daughter of the author of the book.

It's all going as well as you'd expect when murder happens, and everyone is a suspect!

This is set in the modern age, but feels like it's set in the time of Jeeves and Wooster crossed with Agatha Christie for the comedy and for the murder.

Phone for the Fish Knives was published on 17th June 2021, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

The first book in this series is In the Crypt with a Candlestick, and you can read my review here.

You can follow Daisy Waugh on Twitter and through her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Little, Brown Book Group.

Todes Return…
The Todes return in this second country house romp. Is Hollywood really such a good idea? Probably not - despite the allure of the great wads of cash and the silver screen starlets. Another razor sharp and tantalising premise with reality biting to a rather thin plot but it’s all tongue in cheek, satirical and humour edged fun with plenty of ludicrous comic moments.

This is not a style of writing I enjoyed or would choose to read again. I was frustrated with the author reminding me the difference between Ecgbert and Egbert (Sir) and (Mr) respectively. If the author felt this was needed then they already must be aware of the issues with their story?
The triplets seemed pointless and the giggling beyond ridiculous.
I didn’t enjoy any of the characters and struggled to get even a quarter of the way through the book. The blurb and taglines along with such an artistic cover drew me into this book but I could not finish it, it really wasn’t a style or story that was working for me.

Phone for the Fish Knives by Daisy Waugh is a murder mystery, set in Tode Hall - owned by Egbert and India Tode. This is the second novel to feature Tode Hall and I wonder if it's best to read that beforehand.
However, it is witty, well written, think PG Woodhouse with a splash of Agatha Christie.

Characters are eccentric but richly described, armed with acerbic put downs and insults. Cross these characters with a storyline set on a film production set and you have a rip-roaring, laugh-out-loud novel.

Phone for the Fish Knives is PG Wodehouse does murder mystery. The Toades have welcomed a film crew on to their property to make a fast buck or two but end up with headaches and murder instead when the woman everyone loves to hate is murdered in the larder while eating chocolate cake. I didn’t realise this was a second book in a series so a couple of things, like the ghost granny, were slightly baffling but in the main this was an amusing, light read. The triplets were, of course, a favourite (everyone loves the triplets) and the mystery was baffling right to the end.

Another book featuring the Tode family, hilarious and engrossing.
It's a sort of slapstick mystery, the plot flows and the mystery kept me guessing.
I had a lot of fun and liked the characters and the plot.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

trigger warning
<spoiler> mention of suicide, child neglect, emotional abuse, being drugged, stalking, recreational drug use on a huge scale</spoiler>

This book is badly written, not at all plotted, the characters are as three dimensional as cardboard cut outs, and I want to say this was a waste of time, but that feels mean.
The advertisement was false. This is not a cozy crime, this is an unending list of unneccessary drama that occurs at a place where a corpse turns up. There is no investigation, not by anyone alive at least. We have a random ghost who sticks her nose into everything because it's her family's estate and that's how things are done - she is the only character who comes close to feel like a person, and she gives a visible green stink when upset and lives in a sugar jar.

We have this estate which is rented by a film crew for a few weeks to shoot the remake of the adaptation of a classic, which nobody read, not even the regisseur. The family living at the estate is excited to meet famous people, and said famous people are miffed because the third most important role was given to a newcomer who regrets signing his contract and is happily despising actors.
Who has just dumped whom is the part of the story the author had most focus on, to a degree at which regular suspense of disbelief is not working - the police turns up, gets the corpse before it starts to stink, and leaves.

Sensitive topics like mental illness, homophobia, misogyny, get used as cheap plot devices. The characters <i>love</i> to talk big words, and sure, the author is poking fun at people who care about other people, but I still can't get over the feeling the author is using words she doesn't get the meaning of. They are used as tabloid headlines and form a meaningless word vomit.
Yeah, well done, you've shown all the special snowflakes where their place is.

But maybe I just get a faulty copy, because the other reviewers seem to have read an entirely different book, only the names seem to match.
Listen, I feel scammed. And I don't think this has been edited at all.

To Tode Hall again, for another hysterical episode in the family totally bypassed by sanity.

A film crew has overtaken the Hall, complete with Oscar-winning stars. Needs must, the location fee is badly needed....

A fantastic read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A campari of a book - just add a floppy hat and the beach. Light, easy to read, with a cast of characters that could holiday in a Jilly Cooper.

Not sure if it's the Netgalley version, but there are lots and lots of typos...

Hollywood egregious self-centeredness and British aristocratic eccentricities are colliding head-on in this barmy novel littered with hilarious slapstick and a cast of unforgettable dimwits all running around with a wheel short of a full set. A production company descending upon one of England's poshest estates situated in a very draught parched area of Yorkshire and the utter mayhem that ensues will keep many readers in stitches.....
A delicious romp full of madness, laughter, idiotic shenanigans & plenty of marvellous verbal pyrotechnics!
The perfect summer read to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Piatkus for this wonderful ARC

Thanks to Netgalley for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Egbert is the heir of Tode Halls and lived happily with her wife India and children. They have allowed using Tode Halls for remaking of a novel based film. They are happy to get half a million and a chance to communicate with two Oscar-winning stars who are working in the movie. India wants to show off her GIANT home and impress the film crew especially Oscar stars, for which she has arranged a dinner. Rapunzel piece who is the sole owner of the copyrights of the novel along with her son is also in Tode Hall while shooting is done. So many people are attending the dinner including Oliver, Alice, her triplets, Ecgbert and his sister. But dinner isn't what India had planned, it ended up on bad terms and the same night someone died.

I liked the world-building and character development. There were so many characters but their unique development made it easy to remember all of them. The author tried to cover so many issues that it stopped feeling like a mystery. I was expecting a really good mystery but it wasn't. The ending felt so rushed and we didn't get to know the details of the killer. I really wanted to know Killer's POV. The ending was abrupt which means all the side stories ended up so roughly. There were so many loose strings which made me annoyed. It could have been better but...

Phone for the Fish Knives is a easy, frivolous read. It's perfect for summer holiday beach reading. The setting, a country estate that is being used for a unnecessary re-re-make of a 'classic' novel is a character in its own right, and is brought to life vividly in the vastness of the huge amount of space it takes up. The human characters, a set of grotesques perfectly formed, are all, to some extent, unlikeable and flawed. They are fun to read, but you cannot bond or have much sympathy with any of them, with the exception of maybe Alice.

The actual murder mystery element seems almost an irrelevance. And the presumed side-plot involving the housekeepers seems to fizzle out half-way.

What was rather distracting is the author's continual use of brackets throughout, where they were really was not necessary. I found that irritating and it took me out of the story.

In summary, a fun, easy read for the beach, but it will not linger for long in the memory.

I like thE notion of a grand hall and events and this book really didn’t disappoint. So we are at Tode hall with a film crew as the place needs the money. Love the murder mystery part of the story too.

I am a huge fan of Daisy’s work and this book is no exception to her usual standard.

Once again we delve into the crazy world of the Todes, and let me assure you they are just as crazy as before.

With the staff trying their best to keep things calm, a mad director, and a star studded cast with their ego’s all decending on Tode Hall what could possibly go wrong…..

This book is absolutely wonderful, hilarious, tons of fun!

My thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

More adventures of the Tode family, this time involved with filming on location at Tode Hall. All a bit silly with a smattering of literary references thrown in. A quick fun read on a hot afternoon. Thanks to Netgalley.

Phone for the Fish Knives is the madcap, comedy murder mystery sequel to In the Crypt with the Candlestick, and although I haven't read it's predecessor, it works perfectly well as a standalone. Set against the backdrop of Hollywood and the glamorous and prominent Tode family, this is a lighthearted murder mystery verging on the cosy side of things. There's, humour, witty banter and some real bonkers behaviour and this can sometimes overshadow the murder a little, but it's a fun, quick and entertaining mystery with a lot of charm. A bonus is that I don't think there's anything else quite like it on the crime market.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an e-arc of this book in exchange of my honest opinion. Disclaimer I would not have picked this book if I had to pay for it. It would have been my lost because I enjoyed it and will buy a physical copy later.
The Todes are back stronger than ever! The first book in this serie « In the crypt with a candlestick » was, at first, a disappointment for me (I gave it 2 stars). I thought it would be a cosy mystery with Agatha Christie vibes but set in modern time. It was not. I hated every character to the point where reading this book got me angry for no reason. I hate leaving a serie unfinished even more so here I am. And I have to say that when you know what you are getting into it’s an enjoyable read. It’s funny and you learn to love to hate the characters. Even India started to grow on me. It’s silly, with a lot of caricatural and self-absorbed characters. It’s the kind of book who doesn’t take itself seriously and it’s refreshing.
This time I enjoyed the story a lot more. It may not be my favourite books of all time but it’s a serie I will continue reading if there is a sequel. My only worry is that it might get repetitive.
WHAT I LIKED
- The humour
- The characters
- The writing
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
- Sometimes, to accentuate the selfishness of the characters the author tends to repeat herself (for example when she wants to show that India is a snobbish show-off the author makes her obsessed with the man wearing Diner jackets to diner and after two or three mentions of this the joke gets annoying)

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for an advance copy of Phone for the Fish Knives, the second novel to feature Tode Hall and it’s denizens.

Egbert and India Tode are happy to take the money and allow a film company to remake Prance to the Music of Life at Tode Hall, but it seems that the glamour they imagined is overtaken by squabbling protagonists, rivalries, jealousies and murder.

I had not read the preceding novel when I asked to try Phone for the Fish Knives, so I had no idea of what it would be like. And now, having read it, I don’t know what to think of it. It is clever and well organised and reads well, but, to be honest, I didn’t find it funny. Silly, yes, but that’s intentional. I simply didn’t get much of the humour, not least what the title means, because it is so outside of my lived experience. There are digs at the self absorption of the actors which I can at least appreciate as probably exact, but the digs at left wing wokeness left me cold as I had no idea what she was talking about. I’m educated enough to recognise some, but probably not all, of the literary references, like Mellors the gamekeeper, but what’s the point of it as most of us reader’s don’t know much more than the name?

The plot basically consists of various characters scheming to protect their interests any way they can. It’s a caper and interesting to a certain degree, but as I said it’s nowhere near my experience or interests. It even has a ghost. Please.

Phone for the Fish Knives is not my kind of novel, but readers with a wider frame of reference than I have and who like a little acidity in their humour will probably enjoy it.