Jeeves in the Offing

Someone has stolen — yet again — Uncle Tom's antique silver cow-creamer. Suspicions fall on Wilbert Cream, believed to be a wealthy American practical joker and kleptomaniac known as Broadway Willie. But the incident only marks the beginning of Bertie Wooster's problems.

It is only by a stroke of rare — very rare — genius that Bertie Wooster finds a solution. He recalls Jeeves, his incomparable manservant, from his annual holiday at Herne Bay, and Jeeves sorts out everybody and everything in his usual inimitable style.

Comic timing would seem less of the essence in literature until you read the English wit of P. G. Wodehouse, who shows just how a well-placed comment or properly inflected phrase can create a response that is often all too rare during a reading session: A loud, hearty laugh.