Men at Arms

The first volume of Evelyn Waugh's masterful trilogy about war, religion, and politics.
Guy Crouchback, determined to get into the war, takes a commission in the Royal Corps of Halberdiers. His spirits high, he sees all the trimmings but none of the action. And his first campaign, an abortive affair on the West African coastline, ends with an escapade which seriously blots his Halberdier copybook.

Officers and Gentlemen

Officers and Gentlemen is the second book of the trilogy. It first appeared in 1955, three years after its predecessor. Critics immediately noticed its more sombre tone, which is partly attributable to the absence of Apthorpe. They also admired the awesome account of the Battle of Crete, an account which did not soften the debacle which that struggle became. It did not shirk the utter inadequacy of the British forces under pressure.
An often very funny book.... Every bit as good as Men at Arms, whose splendid characterizations and fine writing led many in 1952 to predict that its author had begun the best English fictional account of World War II.

Decline and Fall

Decline and Fall is a novel by the English author Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1928. It was Waugh's first published novel; an earlier attempt, entitled The Temple at Thatch, was destroyed by Waugh while still in manuscript form. Decline and Fall is based in part on Waugh's undergraduate years at Hertford College, Oxford, and his experience as a teacher in Wales. It is a social satire that employs the author's characteristic black humour in lampooning various features of British society in the 1920s.

A Handful of Dust

Few writers have walked the line between farce and tragedy as nimbly as Evelyn Waugh, who employed the conventions of the comic novel to chip away at the already crumbling English class system. His 1934 novel, A Handful of Dust, is a sublime example of his bleak satirical style: a mordantly funny exposé of aristocratic decadence and ennui in England between the wars.

Ashes to Ashes

Investigating a case of arson involving Crazy Dave's TV and appliance store, Sergeant Peter Brichter discovers that Crazy Dave and his own partner have mob connections.