French Exit

Patrick deWitt Bloomsbury €18.19

In her mid-60s, Manhattan socialite Frances Price remains a formidable old bird, ordering martinis two at a time and wielding a lethal turn of phrase. After a lavish decade, Frances has finally exhausted her late husband’s coffers. Fortunately, a friend’s empty Parisian apartment beckons as the bailiffs descend. With her is scruffy, adult son, Malcolm, and their cat, Small Frank. Billed as a ‘tragedy of manners’, it’s pure joy – think Noël Coward garnished with a twist of Lemony Snicket.