Leave It to Psmith

2019 Reprint of 1923 Edition. P. G. Wodehouse was born in England in 1881 and in 1955 became an American citizen. He published more than ninety books and had a successful career writing lyrics and musicals in collaboration with Jerome Kern, Guy Bolton, and Cole Porter, among others. Although the main character in this novel is Psmith, the bulk of the story takes place at Blandings Castle and involves various intrigues within the extended family of Lord Emsworth, the absent-minded elderly Earl.

The plot is typical Wodehouse, with Psmith inveigling himself into the idyllic castle, where we find the usual crop of girls to woo, crooks to foil, imposters to unmask, haughty aunts to baffle and valuable necklaces to steal. Among the players is Psmith's good friend Mike, married to Phyllis and in dire need of some financial help; the ever-suspicious Rupert Baxter is on watch as usual. The item which the plot revolves around is the necklace (nearly all Blandings plots revolve around an item which needs to be recovered).

This book boasts a plot complicated and farcical even by Wodehouse's standards. We can expect dark conspiracies, missing items, frantic attempts to put those items in the right hands, trouble with flowerpots, rages from Blandings' head gardener Angus McAllister, absent-mindedness from Lord Emsworth and best of all a visit from literary types to the castle and more!