Trouble for Lucia (1939)

Abridged on 3 CDs and read by Miriam Margoyles. Sixth and last of Benson's Mapp and Lucia novels about the battle between those ladies for social supremacy in the village of Tilling. In this one Lucia is now Mayor and apparently triumphant in the social status stakes, but that doesn't stop Mapp plotting to unseat her.

I didn't enjoy this as much as the others, but I think this was mostly because I was ill while listening to it. Still a lot of fun to be had in this gentle satire of social climbing and snobbery in 1930s England. Margoyles again does a stunning job of bringing the characters to life. ( )

When Lucia becomes mayor of Tilling, the idea is generally put about that she needs a mayoress, and finally Lucia decides it must be Mapp who would be far less troublesome if she had the post. Mayorial obligations are not quite as onerous as Lucia expected, though she manages to make them as onerous as possible by carting (empty) tin boxes around with her and attempting to educate everyone with her lectures. She becomes unpopular even with husband Georgie who causes many a tongue to wag when he spends a little too much time with his opera singer friend Olga who has returned to Riseholme. Meanwhile Diva has opened a teashop (or is it a gambling den), Lucia has an encounter with a forgetful Duchess who is obsessed with beards, quaint Irene's portrait of Mapp and Benjy satirizing Boticelli's Venus on a seashell gets a national award and many other incidents stir lots of little storms in teapots. ( )

The last of the Mapp / Lucia stories. Lucia is to become mayor of Tilling, and the question on everybody's mind is: who will be mayoress? All manner of social complications arise involving, inter alia, a dead budgerigar, Major Benjy's riding crop, and Quaint Irene's new take on Botticelli; Lucia starts a craze for bicycling; Olga Bracely returns to test Georgie's loyalty and a stray Duchess causes general havoc. Lucia over-reaches herself just a bit, but Mapp's jubilation may turn out to be premature. In short, Tilling as we know it and love it.
Benson was mayor of Rye himself, so presumably what he tells us about local politics is drawn from experience. I felt sometimes in this book that Benson was trying a bit too hard to find something new to say about his characters -- the underlying story is much the same as in Lucia in London, after all -- but the wealth of incident is enough to keep us amused. ( )