Product Description

When Miss Hazelstone of Jacaranda Park kills her Zulu cook in a sensational crime passionel, the gallant members of the South African police force are soon upon the scene: Kommandant van Heerden, whose secret longing for the heart of an English gentleman leads to the most memorbale transplant operation yet recorded; Luitenant Vekramp of the Security Branch, ever active in the pursuit of Communist cells; Konstable Els, with his propensity for shooting first and not thinking later and also for forcing himself upon African women in a manner legally reserved for male members of their race. In the course of the strange events which follow, we encounter some very esoteric perversions when the Kommandant is held captive in Miss Hazelstone's remarkable rubber room; and some even more amazing perversions of justice when Miss Hazelstone's brother, the Bishop of Barotseland, is sentenced to be hanged on the ancient gallows in the local prison.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54514 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Tom Sharpe was born in 1928 and educated at Lancing College and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He did his National Service in the Marines before going to South Africa in 1951, where he did social work before teaching in Natal. He had a photographic studio in Pietermaritzburg from 1957 until 1961, when he was deported... From 1963 to 1972 he was a lecturer in History at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. In 1986 he was awarded the XXXIIIeme Grand Prix de l'Humour Noir Xavier Forneret. He is married and lives in Cambridge.

Customer Reviews

Murderously Funny!!
Riotous Assembly is a hysterically funny satire, set in the mid 20th Century South Africa.
Sharpe has taken aspects of the South African police force, which would otherwise be of serious matter and turned it into a witty and enjoyable insight into the apartheid era.
Unique and quirky characters contribute to a twisting and intriguing plot, which will make your head spin.
Even if the subject matter does not appeal to all, Sharpe's savagely hillarious approach will make you laugh out loud.

excellent
You'll come across some hilariously funny characters, Kommandent Van Heerden a racist South African policemen who will stop at nothing but to maintain the white supremacy of the South African nation, Miss Hazelstone, eccentric and English, the Bishop victim of an arbitrary police campaign to convict him for the murder of a black cook and last but no least Konstable Els raving loony mad man.

All in all it's a comedy not for the light hearted, it starts of with the shooting of a black cook by the good natured nymphomaniac Miss Hazelstone, a shiny example of all that is English. However when the police come to find out that this cook happens to have been Miss Hazelstone's lover, engrossing in acts of bondage, rubber, viagra; does a campaign start to cover up or to face a crisis of the very worst kind of White domination in South Africa. Hilariously funny taking you into a fast paced drama of shooting, hanging, sex, sex and more sex. A must be for all.

Riotous Assembly
This book should carry a health warning! There were times during the reading of this book that I laughed so much I could hardly breathe. It is Tom Sharpe at his best and the book is laced with his well known brand of humour and ridiculous though somehow believable plots! The setting has since been superceeded but I don't think it detracts from the book in anyway. Not for the faint hearted or easily offended!