Jeeves in the Morning chronicles Bertie Wooster's near-disastrous career at Steeple Bumpleigh, the ancestral home of his most terrifying of relations, Aunt Agatha, and her scarcely less gruesome family members. There is Lord Percival Worplesdon, her husband, who figures in Bertie's boyhood as the pursuing man with the horsewhip. There is Florence, Bertie's cousin who believes him to be madly in love with her and who feels the need to mold him. And there is Edwin.

Though he isn't really a main character, Edwin really is a stroke of genius on Wodehouse's part. Edwin is Lord Worplesdon's son and Florence's younger brother, and he is a Boy Scout bent on doing good deeds. His good deeds usually involve loss of life or limb to the person to whom they are administered. It's so funny to read him totting up his good deeds (the goal is one per day). His first act of kindness toward Bertie involves the complete devastation by fire of Bertie's little cottage Wee Nooke.

The plot of this story reminded me a little too much of The Code of the Woosters. The same characters seem to keep popping up under different names. Wodehouse is always witty, but this one didn't cause quite as many outbursts of laughter as his other works. (I will admit, however, I did howl over the description of a hangover-recovering Catsmeat Pirbright-Potter falling victim to a lunchtable gag, after which "strong men had to rally round with brandy.")

Wodehouse loves having his characters tangle with the law and specifically with policemen whose garments they have pinched for some exigency or another. And, as usual, there's a lot of literary humor. Wodehouse makes fun of authors (one of the main characters in this story, Boko, is a well-known writer). It's so tongue-in-cheek. And I love his offhand comment about Shakespeare: "Sounds well, but there's really no meaning to it."

In the end, everything is sorted out to satisfaction. Joy comes in the morning, usually in the person of Jeeves. Despite its similarities to other Wodehouse books, this is certainly an amusing story, and you can't go wrong with Jeeves and Wooster. ( )

If you want to laugh, and you like farce, particularly English farce that pokes fun at their class system, I think you'll like this tale. Though I did laugh more while reading "Code of the Woosters." The Overlook Press edition is easy on the eyes and feels good in the hand, but it has no secondary material. ( )

Bertie Wooster spends three horrible days in Steeple Bumpleigh. ( )

Right up there with The Cose of the Woosters as the best of Wodehouse. Bertie in Aunt Agatha country, featuring another loopy novellist (Boko Fittleworth) and an irascible Lord (my dear Worplesdon...) ( )

This is my favorite Wodehouse book so far; a hilarious story that keeps you wondering how Jeeves is going to manage to get Bertie Wooster out of his mess this time. ( )