Most so-called comic novels these days barely raise a smirk. Enter Neil Blackmore to show us all how it’s done with his hugely entertaining romp through 18th-century Europe. The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle is a novel for which the word “rollicking” might have been invented … From the start, Benjamin’s voice is a delight … Blackmore draws clear parallels between the social and financial disparities of the 18th century and today … The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle is the kind of novel that a reader can sink into, delighting in the merriment of the prose and the eccentricity of the protagonists. But it’s not just played for laughs: it’s also an insightful study into a period of history often overlooked in fiction.

Seductive, decadent, cruel and utterly thrilling – just like Horace Lavelle himself. This is The Talented Mr Ripley for the twenty-first century.

An original and spirited novel.

I gorged myself with wicked glee on Horace Lavelle, and his scandalous joyride through society. Thrillingly cruel, heartbreakingly tender and altogether exhilarating; don’t believe a word Lavelle says but relish every one of them.

Wildly entertaining and painfully heartbreaking … a surprisingly timeless journey of self-discovery and the queer experience. Neil Blackmore writes with a fizzy wit that bounds his characters off the page and yet a gentle tenderness that may break your heart.