In the Teeth of Adversity

Those who dread the dentist's chair will crack a smile at this uproarious fourth and final volume in Babson's Perkins & Tate series. Here the public relations team is called in to cap the bad press that is sure to follow when a dentist who attends to celebrity smiles finds a top model dead in his chair. Perkins & Tate slog on valiantly in aid of a dental practice that has gone bonkers. A hilarious cast of characters on the premises includes an inventor of a new anesthetic, a mad former Army dentist who believes that both World Wars are yet to be won and who, accordingly, gives orders to all and sundry, a sadistic driller who aims for the neck, and a waiting-room full of celebrities brought together by faculty grins and personal designs on the dentist. This is a Mad Hatter's tea party in the dental surgery, with murder thrown in and a Siamese cat taking the role of the Dormouse, pouncing at opportune moments. Sparkling comedy. (July)