Cardinal Sins

Rating:
Summary: More great bridge humour from Reese and Bird.
Review: This is the fourth book in the series about the bridge playing exploits of the fictional Monks of St. Titus Abbey. It follows the format of the earlier books in that each chapter contains a small number of hands played by a common set of characters in a specific setting. A bonus in this book is the first appearance of Robin Hood and his band of outlaws playing against the Sheriff of Nottingham.

As usual, the stories have all previously appeared in assorted Bridge magazines and, for book publication, they have been honed by Reese working with David Bird the original author.

One of the best aspects of this series is that the authors add a liberal quantity of wit to lighten the serious bridge content. You can read this book for the narrative with the technical problems as a bonus but it is certainly well worth trying to work out the play problems before seeing how they are solved in the book. Most of the problems should be within the grasp of a good club player and, if you get stuck on them, the narrative gives an insight into the thought processes of the players who wrestle with the problems in the book.

Despite the fact that it is one of a long running series, this book is not stale. I strongly recommend it to any bridge enthusiast who has a sense of humour.