PLUM PIE

This is another splendid volume in the Wodehouse Collector's series. First published in 1966, this book features appearances from Wodehouse's most popular characters. Stories include: Jeeves and the Greasy Bird (To help out a chum, Bertie hires an actress to play his finance) Sleep Time (a golf themed story) Sticky Wicket at Blandings (Lord Emsworth must steal a dog from a neighbour) Ukridge Starts a Bank Account (Ukridge tries his hand at selling antiques) Bingo Bans the Bomb (Bingo Little concocts a plan to prove he was arrested) Stylish Stouts (Bingo's financial future rests on his rather rotund relatives) George and Alfred (Mr Mulliner relates the sad tale of his twin nephews) A Good Cigar is a Smoke (To wed the girl of dreams, Lancelot Bingley must give up smoking) Life with Freddie (novella length tale of Freddie Threepwood's efforts to sell dog biscuits and help out his friends) Interspersed between the stories are Wodehouse's ("Our Man in America") comments on American news. The book ends with two poems, "Time Like an Ever-rolling Stream" and "Printer's Error" and a brief essay on humour. I am a big fan of Wodehouse's work. As all but one of the stories was new to me, I practically devoured the book. "Sticky Wicket at Blandings" and "Life with Freddie" are my favourites, but all of the stories are well-written and very amusing. Recommended for all Wodehouse fans. A Time Traveller's Review

Plum Pie is a particularly good Wodehouse collection. There's a Jeeves and Wooster story, a couple of Blandings stories, two about Bertie's friend Bingo Little, and other assorted tales. The standout is probably "Life with Freddie", a long story about Freddie Threepwood (son of Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle) and zany goings-on aboard a ship from England to New York. Interspersed with the stories are selections from Wodehouse's column (for Punch, I think) "Our Man in America", which are very funny bits of odd news, told in the inimitable Wodehouse style.