"Jack Brag, vol. 3 (of 3)" by Theodore Edward Hook is a satirical novel written in the early 19th century. It lampoons social pretension through the blustering fortune-hunter Jack Brag, whose vanity and schemes run up against gambling losses, awkward friendships, and a mortifying new “family alliance” when his mother marries the youthful shopman James Salmon. The opening of this volume finds Jack sore, short of cash, and panicking about appearances after losing heavily at écarté to Colonel Stiffkey and enduring the shock of his mother’s sudden marriage to Salmon. He resolves to placate his new father-in-law to secure funds, engineers a temporary truce over breakfast, and strikes a deal: Salmon gives him £300 now in exchange for Jack’s acceptance of a £500 bill. A missing stamp sends the trio to Lewes, where Jack also hopes to dodge Stiffkey’s return; there, Salmon’s old acquaintance, the actress Miss Roseville (Molly Hogg), reappears. That night at Othello, Mrs. Salmon’s jealousy of the actress explodes in a public scene, bringing the performance to a halt and forcing a chaotic retreat. Jack privately explains matters to Miss Roseville, learns she and Salmon have history (and that Salmon once mimicked “capering Jack”), then writes the Salmons that he is off at dawn and reminds them to pay in the cash. At the start of the next chapter he hides to avoid them, sees the London coach—now carrying both Mrs. Salmon and Miss Roseville—depart, and slips away toward Brighton en route to Cowes, where he hopes to reinsert himself into yacht-club society under the wing of Lord Wagley. (This is an automatically generated summary.)