Sam Vimes is back in Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld novel—Snuff—and he hasn’t changed a bit. When Sybil talks him into taking a vacation in the countryside, Sam of course brings his work along. Between bouts of complaining about the aristocracy and the lack of loud city noises, Commander/Duke Vimes soon finds skulduggery afoot and simply has to investigate the local miscreants. This naturally turns into a full-scale shake up on the scale of the Koom Valley incident, with plenty of police work, boat chases and fisticuffs.

Snuff reminds me a bit of Thud! and it fits right in with the other Vimes books, which are one of my favorite branches of the Discworld series. It has the usual humor characteristic of Pratchett and Vimes, though the book is slightly more serious than some of Sir Pratchett’s earlier works, but that goes with the police procedural territory. The other Watch books were like that as well.

If you’re already familiar with Commander Vimes and the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, you’ll definitely enjoy Snuff. And if you’re not, it’s still not a bad place to start. (Though if you’re the sort who insists on reading books in order, you may want to read Guards! Guards! instead.)