Wives Like Us / An Oxford Girl Mystery / 2

One grand English country house, one American divorcee, three rich wives, two business tycoons, a pair of miniature sausage dogs and one butler... what could possibly go wrong?

If you think the English countryside is all green wellies, muddy Land Rovers, and grey-haired ladies in tweed, then you've never visited The Bottoms. These tiny, rose-strewn Cotswold villages (Little Bottom, Middle Bottom, Great Bottom and Monkton Bottom) are home to a glittering new country crowd.

Following a ghastly row about a missing suite of diamonds, Tata Hawkins has flounced out of Monkton Bottom Manor with her daughter, Minty, and Executive Butler, Ian Palmer, in tow, decamping to The Old Coach House to teach her husband, Bryan, a lesson. Ian knows the only way to restore order to his - and Tata's - life is to get his employers back together.

But nothing goes to plan. Bryan disappears with a bikini designer; Selby Fairfax, the glamorous American divorcée who has inherited the beautiful estate next door - Great Bottom Park - is refusing Tata's overtures at friendship; Tata's best friends are distracted by their own problems; and worst of all, Ian simply cannot find the space at The Old Coach House for his collection of vintage Gucci loafers.

Tata just wants her husband to see the error of his ways so she can go back home. Selby just wants to believe in love again. And Ian? Ian wants his walk-in wardrobe back. With the help of a pig farmer, a stable hand, a barrister and a bikini influencer (and many more besides) can Ian restore harmony to The Bottoms?

Praise for Plum Sykes' previous novels:
'Deliciously moreish' Daily Mail
'Thoroughly fabulous' Vogue
'A total hoot' The Sunday Times
'Sykes has a distinctive, wily and well-deployed comic voice' New York Times
'Savagely funny' Observer
'Glam and lively' Heat
'You'll have a blast' Red