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Loading... Do Butlers Burgle Banks? (Everyman Wodehouse) (original 1968; edition 2005)by P. G. Wodehouse (Author)
Work InformationDo Butlers Burgle Banks? by P. G. Wodehouse (1968)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A master criminal takes a job as a butler in order to burgle the bank owned by his employer. Two spirited young "gairls" get involved, in furtherance of their true loves. A safe cracker gets religion, and casts well-laid plans agley. Fate is always doing things like that. Typical Wodehouse, with a tangled yet frothy plot, and not a scene or character wasted. His characters here follow familiar archetypes, although the crooks offer something different. Horace Appleby is a criminal, specialising in “inside jobs”, his modus operandi is to secure the position of butler in a respectably well-off establishment and then arrange the details whereby his companions carry out the actual burglary. But he is not too happy with the American, Mr. Yost, and Yost’s blatant disregard for Appleby’s most important rule, never carry a gun. So he refuses to pay Yost his cut, as you can imagine, Yost is not too happy about this. Not wanting to overly provoke a man who carries a gun Appleby things that maybe a job down the country might be just the thing. If you knew Wodehoue but read this one blind (you know what I mean!), you would know this was a Wodehouse (and not because of the mention of Jeeves/Wooster/Blandings etc). A perfectly good example, though the ending was a little prefunctory. Am working my way through the 90 or so Everyman Wodehouse portfolio and am nearly exactly half way (not all at once. of course). Am amazed that there have been so few that don't make it to at least 3 stars (and many considerably higher). I think it may be only one or 2 so far. Big Ship 7 November 2018 no reviews | add a review
Do Butlers Burgle Banks?(1968) features Mike Bond, the hitherto fortunate owner of Bond's Bank, who finds himself in a spot of trouble so serious that he wants someone to burgle the bank before the trustees inspect it. Fortunately for him, Horace Appleby, currently posing as his butler, is on hand to oblige. For Horace is, in fact, not a butler at all but the best sort of American gangster, prudently concealing himself in an English country house while hiding from his rivals. Looking for peace and safety, Horace is to discover before long that the hot-spots of New York are a whole lot more restful than the English countryside. This is the lightest of light comedies, a Wodehousian souffle from his later years. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The story hangs together well enough, and the characters are vivid, but the plot isn’t gripping, and nor are the characters Wodehouse’s best creations.
It’s a strange one to sum up, really. I liked it but was disappointed that it lacked the comedy associated with this talented author. ( )