It’s not Jeeves and Wooster, not Blandings and not Psmith, so one of those that tends to get neglected. A light crime caper with all of Wodehouse’s signature humour and a bit of romance although all is rocky to begin with as just about everybody ending up at the cozy country house have reasons to loathe and suspect each other. The delight is seeing how the characters dodge their enemies, forge uneasy alliances and fall in love against their will. And of course it will make you smile and laugh out loud. Some faves:‘I shall concentrate exclusively upon the work where I am convinced that my real talents lie. I shall write thrillers, and I shall do nothing but write thrillers, and if they come to me and plead with me to appear in the latest cause célèbre, I shall reply that I am sorry, but I cannot fit it in. You merely court disaster in these days of specialisation, if you dissipate your energies.’‘In the life of every man there come times when he wishes he were James Cagney, and one of these had come upon him now.’‘Chimp Twist was human, though most of his acquaintances would have liked to have this proved to them, and it is a human trait to keep on hoping, however sticky the outlook.’‘She spoke so quietly, so meekly, her whole air so like that of a good little girl remorseful for having been naughty, that a wiser and more experienced man than Lionel Green would have climbed the wall and pulled it up after him.’‘It had taken him some time to make the discovery, but he had suddenly become conscious that there was an oddness about this girl’s manner. She put him in mind of a bomb on the point of exploding, and it disturbed him.’‘It is the secret sorrow of authors that they too seldom come into direct contact with their public. Her publisher’s statement told Mrs Cork that two hundred and six splendid men and women had bought A Woman in the Wilds, but never till now had she stood face to face with anyone on the roll of honour.’‘Her views on her eccentric employee had come of late to resemble those entertained by King Henry the Second towards Thomas à Becket. The words “Will no one rid me of this turbulent butler?” seemed to be trembling on her lips.’
It would be greedy and perhaps even ungrateful to ask more from Wodehouse than we have, given the astonishing wealth of material which he produced in his lifetime. Nevertheless, I mourn that some of the characters from the so-called 'minor' novels were not developed beyond their allotted span. Viscount Uffenham, the very engaging aristocrat at the heart of this novel, is a case in point, and I should very much have preferred to have more of his exploits than those of, say, Mr Mulliner. Some of the titled ladies and gents from the minor novels are little more than renamed copies of Lord Emsworth or Lord Ickenham (not complaining about that - two very fine creations indeed), but Uffenham is a most endearing creature, and one whom I feel sure could have sustained many more adventures than those in which he featured. His physical appearance is distinctive: 'In shape he resembled a pear, reasonably narrow at the top but getting wider and wider all the way down and culminating in a pair of boots of the outsize or violin-case type. Above these great, spreading steppes of body there was poised a large and egglike head, the bald dome of which rose like some proud mountain peak from a foothill fringe of straggling hair. His upper lip was very long and straight, his chin pointed. "How do yer do?" he said. "Haryer?"' Like the White Knight in Alice, he is apt to let his mind wander from time to time, even when at the heart of a conversation, to more diverting topics, such as how one might use a grasshopper to determine the air temperature, in the absence of a thermometer. He is an exquisite being, and I for one shall miss him when I've exhausted the two novels in which he shines like a star.
What do You think about Money In The Bank (2005)?
‘Money in the Bank’ is one of my favourite Wodehouse novels. Lord Uffenham is short of money and has had to let his country pile to big game hunter, Mrs Cork, however, what money he has is the family jewels which he has hidden for safe keeping. Unfortunately Lord Uffenham’s poor memory means he has no idea where he has hidden them, consequently he is posing as Cakebread, the butler, to give him the opportunity to search the rooms.Also on hand are Soapy & Dolly Molloy and co-conspirator Chimp Twist whom we met previously in ‘Sam the Sudden’ and ‘Money for Nothing’. Having got wind of diamonds been loose on the premises they are determined to get them away from Lord Uffenham and even each other. Novelist Jeff Miller is on site to try and woo Mrs Cork’s secretary Anne Benedick who is secretly engaged to her employer’s nephew, Lionel Green.As you can imagine with a celebrated big game hunter in attendance before the boy gets the girl or the diamonds are recovered or the thieves revealed there is to be some gun play however it is really the dialogue that hits the mark. Wodehouse, as ever, delivers a dead eye shot every time.
—Ian Wood
