Faith Sullivan’s wonderful Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse (you can read my review here) motivated me to drop everything and read a book I’ve had on my shelf for years: Wodehouse on Crime: A Dozen Tales of Fiendish Cunning edited by D. R. Bensen with a Foreword by Isaac Asimov. I’ve read a few of these stories in other collections, but several of these stories were new to me. If you’re in the mood for clever writing, brilliant characterizations, and zany plotting P. G. Wodehouse is a master of all three. Do you have a favorite P. G. Wodehouse work? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
“Strychnine in the Soup”
“The Crime Wave at Blandings”
“Ukridge Starts a Bank Account”
“The Purity of the Turf”
“The Smile that Wins”
“The Purification of Rodney Spelvin”
“Without the Option”
“The Romance of a Bulb Squeezer”
“Aunt Agatha takes the Count”
“The Fiery Wooing of Mordred”
“Ukridge’s Accident Syndicate”
“Indiscretions of Archie”
I have only read the Jeeves and Wodehouse stories, but adored them. This collection sounds great – will see about tracking it down, thanks George.
Sergio, if you adore the Jeeves stories, you’ll love WODEHOUSE ON CRIME.
PS soprry about that – JEEVES AND WOOSTER is what I meant!
PPS and sorry for the extra typo. Have now ordered this one, so again, thanks 🙂
I love Wodehouse, the first author I seriously collected. I believe I have HBs of all his books, many firsts. I couldn’t pick a favorite, though I don’t remember likng the Ukridge or Mulliner ones as well as the Jeeves or blandings. I think the blandings series is probably my favorite. I have some of the BBC series still to watch, taped on pbs. I should buy the series, as well as the jeeves and wooster ones.
Maggie, I’m a big fan of the Blandings stories, too.
Maggie, I have the boxed set of the Jeeves & Wooster set starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
I’ve read all the Jeeves & Wooster books but only a handful of the others, so can’t really pick a favorite.
Jeff, I have the Jeeves & Wooster set, too. Great stuff!
A great choice, George, and highly recommended for any Wodehouse fan (or fan of the English language, for that matter). The Blanding stories are my favorites, followed by the adventures of Jeeves, Bertie, and the whole Drones Club. I am not a golfer and never will be, but the golf stories about The Oldest Member are charming.
Jerry, those WODEHOUSE golf stories are classics!
Hey, I have an unread copy of this on my bookshelf. I’ll have to get to it. Just the other day I saw a Workingman’s Library collection of Wodehouse at the library, and read the introduction by John Mortimer, author of the excellent Rumpole books. Wodehouse was a really remarkable man, in the end even turning his harshest critic into a friend.
Graham, you will enjoy WODEHOUSE ON CRIME. John Mortimer is another one of my favorite writers.
Just FYI, for those who have Kindles (or other e-readers): There are a bunch of (mostly) early Wodehouse books available FREE on Kindle, and Amazon has two nice collections at 99 cents each. One is 80 short stories from various collections, and the other has 26 novels and 7 short story collections!
At that price, how can you possibly go wrong even if you read one book?
The Wodehouse Collection.
Thanks, Jeff, I got it.
Jeff, I downloaded those WODEHOUSE freebies a couple years ago. The price is right!
My favourite Wodehouse book is undoubtedly UNCLE DYNAMITE, the second book in the Uncle Fred series, although Fred (Lord Ickenham) also appears as part of the Blandings Castle milieu.
Ronald, I have fond memories of reading UNCLE DYNAMITE. Uncle Fred is quite a character.
D. R. Bensen is a woefully neglected literary hero of mine.
Todd, D. R. Bensen put together a great anthology with WODEHOUSE ON CRIME.
Like Sergio, I’ve read only the Jeeves and Wooster stories. Times for me to expand my Wodehouse experience!
Matt, there’s a lot of Wodehouse to enjoy!