Winning Bridge in the Menagerie

The second in Robert King's continuation of Mollo's classic series, this book marks a bit of a shift in focus. All the old favorites, the Hog, the Rabbit, Papa, Karapet and so on are still prominent, to be sure, but this edition sees them joined in the upper ranks by King's new character, the lovely and talented Sophia the Siren, and details her efforts at improving the play of her most promising students.The effect of this is that the hands in this book are not as high-level as previous Menagerie books, nor is the play of some of the characters as sound as before (the Secretary Bird, in particular, seems to have all but turned into Walter the Walrus). But the humor and character interaction are still as crisp and entertaining as ever, and isn't that all we ever ask of the Menagerie?