He takes the Twites' neglected, sharp-tongued daughter Dido under his wing, and makes the acquaintance of the Duke and Duchess of Battersea, where he's delighted to find his childhood friend Sophie, now serving as the Duchess's maid. Black Hearts in Battersea proceeds at a breakneck pace, propelled by improbable dangers, fortuitous discoveries, and astonishing coincidences.
Eccentric villains abound, and equally eccentric heroes.
Like the other Wolves novels, Black Hearts in Battersea is very funny. One never doubts that Simon and his friends will prevail, and that everything will turn out right in the end. Yet the dangers Sophie and Simon and Dido encounter are real, and bring them face to face with true human evil. This portrayal of the dark side of human nature, and the fact that the characters must possess not just cleverness and luck, but genuine strength of spirit in order to overcome the obstacles they confront, lends the series a depth beyond its clever amusements. The resourceful Dido Twite returns in Nightbirds on Nantucket .