The Crims

Slapstick humor and one-liners drive this British caper about 12-year-old Imogen Crim, who hails from an infamously inept crime family. Imogen’s attempt to reinvent herself as head girl at the prestigious Lilyworth Ladies’ College comes to an end when an anonymous letter exposes her identity; after being expelled, she returns to the dull village of Blandington and her large, madcap family. The convoluted plot involves “The Heist,” her Uncle Clyde’s “carefully crafted, amazingly idiotic scheme to steal his long-lost Captain Crook lunch box back from Jack Wooster, his former friend and current enemy.” The lunch box is now valued at one million pounds, and the elder Crims happily serve jail time for the theft, in order to achieve felonious fame. To reclaim her place in boarding school, Imogen must enlist the help of her young cousins, aka the Horrible Children, to prove the family’s innocence. British author Davies believably sketches Imogen’s initial frustrations with her bungling relatives and eventual realization that she loves and is truly one of them. Fans of broad humor and outsize antics will enjoy this off-kilter romp. Ages 8–12. (Dec.)