The title story of Stephen Maitland-Lewis’ MR. SIMPSON AND OTHER SHORT STORIES focuses on Ernest Simpson, second husband of Wallis Simpson, who later married King Edward VIII causing him to abdicate the throne. Ernest finesses an interview with a New York newspaper claiming that he saved the world and wishes to tell his story. Maitland-Lewis’s excellent descriptive skills are on display in this story, as simply by describing Simpson’s clothing, the reader can imagine precisely what kind of man he is — refined and formerly wealthy, in need of a quick influx of cash: “His British army regimental tie, thirty years in service to him, was tied in a strategically positioned Windsor knot to mask its frayed places. His suit was remarkably well-kept for having been made for him just before the outbreak of war in 1939 by Huntsman in Saville Row. The immovable wine stains on his shirt were deftly concealed.” His claim to fame turns out to be a bit of a stretch; he believes he saved the world by divorcing Wallis so she could marry Edward, a marriage without which Edward would have remained on the throne and likely been a much more friendly monarch toward the Nazis. World War II would never have happened, or would have ended very differently. As evidenced by this story, Maitland-Lewis has a keen interest in history, which he uses to imagine outlandish situations that are just plausible enough to be believed. It’s a well-accomplished balance of realism and absurdism.

Maitland-Lewis brings a dry British wit to many of the tales contained in the book, which nicely accentuates some of the more absurd or eccentric plot maneuvers. For instance, in a story about a bank that has relied primarily on nepotism for its hiring process, the narrator remarks, “To describe Davenport’s as a bank run by dimwits would be too cruel, but certainly the boardroom was occupied by lazy incompetents whose consuming interests and passions lay many miles from the city of London.” This story has a clever O. Henry ending, as a banker swaps out a painting in his own home for one in his work office, believing the bank painting to be valuable, only to learn when the bank liquidates its assets that his own painting had been a Velasquez worth $19 million. Elsewhere, a “promiscuous young executive” falls in love with a sex worker only to discover that she may not be a sex worker at all, a private investigator travels over continents seeking an escaped Nazi, and an aspiring author meets a Russian spy turned First Lady of the United States.

Stephen Maitland-Lewis wows with MR. SIMPSON AND OTHER SHORT STORIES, a triumph of alternative history featuring humor, action, romance and an eclectic mix of characters, genres, and moods, from an exemplary storyteller with a unique voice.

~Lisa Butts for IndieReader