Kirkus Reviews QR Code
WODEHOUSE ON CRIME: A Dozen Tales of Fiendish Cunning by P. G. Wodehouse

WODEHOUSE ON CRIME: A Dozen Tales of Fiendish Cunning

By

Pub Date: Oct. 15th, 1981
Publisher: Ticknor & Fields/Houghton Mifflin

Don't get your hopes up, Wodehouse fans: this isn't a treasure-trove of hitherto-unknown detective stories by the great Plum. No, these are mostly very well-known Wodehouse items, with only the slightest, most whimsical connections to ""crime"" fiction. There are four Mulliner stories (some of them especially familiar if you saw television's Wodehouse Playhouse), including the delightful ""Strychnine in the Soup""--the one about a young Mulliner stealing the detective-novel from his prospective mother-in-law. There are three Wooster/Jeeves standbys--including the one about Bertie urging a pal to steal a policeman's helmet as a way to chase the blues. There's the classic ""The Crime Wave at Blandings""--in which Lord Emsworth and stuffy Constance both give in to the temptation of shooting family retainers in the posterior with an airgun. And a few somewhat lesser-known pieces--generally more about Wodehouseian romance than fiendish cunning--fill out the collection. Not really crime, hardly new, but Wodehouse is always welcome: fresh and funny every time around.