Something Fresh by PG Wodehouse
The first book to introduce the characters of Blandings Castle it’s pretty standard fare. Then again, I’ve read enough of these to almost be able to predict what’s going to happen. It’s very good though, but reminiscent of the Wooster and Jeeves adventure with th cow creamer.
Lord Emsworth visits Mr. Peters, a rich industrialist, who is eager to show off his expensively acquired Egyptian scarab, a Cheops of the Fourth Dynasty, and the absent mindedly puts it in his pocket when Peters is momentarily called away. Peters thinks the scarab has been stolen, Emsworth thinks it was a gift. The Efficient Baxter, Emsworth’s butler, puts in in the Blandings museum, and a host of people converge on Blandings Castle, all with the intent of securing the scarab for their own. Along the way we meet Freddie Threepwood, Joan Valentine, Mr. Marson, Beach, and on and on. The whole Edwardian collection.
Typical wit and a good read, although it took me ages to get through. A friend says that a Wodehouse novel should talk only as long to read as it takes your glass of bubbly to go flat. I think she’s right.
