Review: Lord Emsworth and Others

Lord Emsworth and Others by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Short stories, in which, mostly, people win who don't always win. This is a bit of a theme for Wodehouse; he was always one for the underdog.

In the opening story, "The Crime Wave at Blandings," Lord Emsworth's despised former secretary, the Efficient Baxter, is shot with an airgun multiple times by multiple people, and another of Lord Emsworth's many nieces gets to marry the man of her choice because Lord Emsworth, emboldened by circumstances, uncharacteristically stands up to his sisters. It's prime Blandings Castle material.

We then get stories from those tireless raconteurs Mr. Mulliner and the Oldest Member (of a golf club; these are golf stories, but you don't have to be a golfer to enjoy them, since they're really about the struggles of young people in love). I'd say these stories are about average for Mulliner and Oldest Member stories: good, but not great.

Finally, we get three stories in which Ukridge uncharacteristically makes money out of his perpetual schemes, though not without the usual vicissitudes. The boxer he intermittently manages, Battling Billson, even wins a fight for once. His reluctant friend, "Corky" Corcoran, who narrates the Ukridge stories, in this case is mostly narrated to, as Ukridge recounts his triumphs and disasters. I enjoy Ukridge's inexpert con games and his eccentric costume and personality, and these three stories are well up to standard.

The cover illustration to the Everyman edition presumably is meant to be the Efficient Baxter, but with none of the features of his stated appearance (for example, his spectacles). Everyman have done an excellent job of copy editing, but I question their art direction.

The book cheered me up when I needed that, and what more can you ask from a collection of comic short stories?

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