The Abbot's Great Sacrifice
by David Bird

Cassell / Peter Crawley, £9.99, ISBN 0 304 36613 7

Arguably the most famous of Bird's fictional characters, the long suffering (or should I say insufferable?) Abbot provides the centrepiece for some entertaining tales set around the St Titus Monastery. Apart from playing in the monastery's regular weekly duplicates, he hosts a visit from the Australian Brother Hermann, he tries his luck in some matches, and a local Swiss teams. Also, in a rare spirit of generosity, the Abbot gives up a day to speak and play at the Women's Institute.

As someone familiar with several of the real people upon whom some of the characters are based, I find the monks' antics especially amusing, but anybody with a sense of humour would find it difficult to read the whole book and keep a straight face. Much of the material first appeared in Bridge Magazine, and it makes the transition to book format well, allowing the author to exploit particular themes.

Q 9 7 5 3   3   7 3   A K Q J 8     K J 10 6 4   K Q J 8 5   9 8 5   -   8   9 7 6 2   J 10 6 4   10 7 3 2     A 2   A 10 4   A K Q 2   9 6 5 4

After South opens 1, the Abbot makes a Michaels 2 overcall (showing the majors) but his opponents, two rather pretty university students, sail into 6. "I don't know if these will be of any use," said Emma Smith, grinning as she laid out her splendid trump holding. "Very nice, Emma," her partner, Debbie Locke-Smith replied.

Winning the K lead in hand, declarer led a trump and discovered the bad news. The 4-0 break meant she could not ruff a spade in hand and nor could she ruff two red cards in dummy. Her best hope was to draw trumps and cash her diamonds to see what would happen:

Q 9 7 5 3   -   -   8     K J 10 6   Q J   -   -   8   9 6 2   J 10   -     A 2   10 4   Q 2   -

As the Q hit the green baize, the Abbot found he had no good discard. If he threw the 6, ace and another spade would set up the suit. Hoping that his partner, Brother Xavier, would hold the 10, he threw a heart. However, declarer led the 4 next, discarding a spade from dummy. This set up the 10 and endplayed the Abbot!

Julian Pottage

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