TIME STOPS FOR NO MOUSE

When faced with an overload of distressing, worrying and just plain awful events swirling around in the friendship and family circle, not to mention in the wider world, sometimes I just need comfort reading. Lately comfort has come through gardening books. But when talking about the need for distraction to my brother, he dug out a book he thought might be just the ticket. He’d read the whole series to my niece when she was 8, and she’d loved them. Would I like to give it a try? My inner 8-year-old said, yes please.

Hermux Tantamoq is a quiet and rather shy fellow who repairs watches for a living. Just how he does this is, I can’t imagine because he is a mouse. Actually, all of the characters in the book are small mammals and some would say vermin (especially my friend whose upcoming odyssey to the outback has been postponed because mice ate out the wiring on her new motor-home). But it’s fiction, and Hermux is a sweetheart of a mouse who would never eat electrical wiring; he likes soup and chocolate donuts. He lives by routine, going to his shop, people-watching during breaks at his favourite café, and returning to his apartment in the evening to spend time with his pet ladybug.

But his quiet life is turned upside down when the fascinating aviatrix Linka Perflinger strides into his shop, requiring urgent repairs to her watch. She’s insistent, and so he agrees – therefore when she fails to pick it up, he’s annoyed. Then a sinister rat comes into the shop demanding he hand over Linka’s watch. Hermux refuses, and worried, decides to play detective.

The twisty plot takes in a sharp satire on the art world, a swipe at wellness culture, industrial espionage, opera and a cast of eccentric rodents. There’s a nail-biting finale, and I’ve already been around to my brother’s to borrow a couple more in the series. Fast-moving, fun and absorbing, the book did the trick of both cheering and distracting.