Mona of the Manor

Maupin’s satisfying 10th Tales of the City novel (after The Days of Anna Madrigal) transports his familiar bawdiness from San Francisco to the English countryside. It’s 1993, and Rhonda and Ernie Blaylock, a conservative couple from North Carolina, discover their vacation rental in the Cotswolds to be more ramshackle than advertised. The owner, Mona Ramsey, a 48-year-old American widow featured in Maupin’s previous novels, inherited the house from her marriage-of-convenience husband. She skirts financial ruin while managing the property with brusque honesty and general carelessness alongside her charming but clumsy 26-year-old adopted son, Wilfred, who is Aboriginal Australian, gay, and single. When Rhonda confesses to Mona and Wilfred that Ernie beats her, mother and son hatch a scheme to hide her on the premises and tell Ernie she’s run off. Side plots involve Mona’s tenuous relationship with the local postmistress, Rhonda grappling with the homophobia conditioned in her by her upbringing, and Wilfred’s frustrated attempts to find a boyfriend. All the Maupin hallmarks are in place, including a righteous conviction that conservative viewpoints are immoral and stupid, diverse queer characters, fade-to-black sex scenes, and a fun if silly plot. Fans of the series will relish this heaping plate of comfort food. (Mar.)