Summer Lightning

At Blandings Castle, Lord Emsworth’s brother Sir Galahad Threepwood is penning his memoirs, much to the horror of his overbearing sister, Lady Constance, who fears salacious tales of his salad days will shame the family. She convinces Baxter, Lord Emsworth’s former secretary, to return to Blandings to steal the memoirs. Also at the Castle is Ronnie Fish, who’s hoping to get money from Emsworth in order to marry his chorus girl sweetie, Sue. But the best laid schemes of memoir-stealing and marriage-funding gamely go awry. Not one to be easily deterred, Ronnie secretly kidnaps Lord Emsworth’s prize pig in order to claim the reward. Baxter, though, is certain that Emsworth’s current secretary has stolen the pig as a sort of porcine job insurance. Soon, Blandings is awash in private detectives, broken engagements, and mistaken identities. Martin Jarvis’ nimble reading adds to the hilarity of this classic Wodehouse farce.

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.