The house with all its “nincompoops” is back with a whole new dose of stupidity in The second book in the Curmudgeon Avenue series, The Harold and Edith Adventures by Samantha Henthorn. With Edna presumably gone to France with the love of her life, Genevieve, Harold had become a permanent lodger in Number One Curmudgeon Avenue. Despite his unbearable smell, he had found a way to sweep Edith off her feet. Additionally, he discovered a passion for “blaming, claiming and complaining” to the benefits agency. Meanwhile, Edith started staring at her ring-less finger more than ever. On top of everything else, Harold had to look out for “the tall, handsome and well-dressed man,” who, in his viewpoint, was “either a fraud investigator or an elephant detective.”

Curmudgeon Avenue series takes the slapstick humor to a brand new level. The bits about Edith’s floral nightdresses that she wears everywhere, Harold’s self-assumed role of knowing it all, Toonan’s twisted pronunciation, and Ricky and Wantha’s bickering are rib-tickling. Scene by scene, the plot keeps introducing side-splitting drama. The audience can visualize “all kinds of under-the-nail fungus” when Edith tickles Harold under his armpit. Similarly, the readers can picture Edith in her under-the-stairs hideaway and Harold bolting out the door whenever things got complicated. Our narrator, the mind-blowing house, has become even more exceptional in the second book of the series. Just when you think the characters of the Curmudgeon Avenue series can’t make you giggle anymore, they just do. The Harold and Edith Adventures by Samantha Henthorn, like the first book of the series, would charm you to no end.