Probably no Wodehouse book is forgotten, but I'd never read any of the Mulliner books before, and maybe you haven't, either. Mr. Mulliner, the narrator of all the stories in this collection, is a gent who frequents a pub known as The Angler's Rest. Whenever anyone in the place brings up a topic, Mr. Mulliner has a story about it, and the story always involves one of his relatives, often a nephew. Some of the stories are vaguely crime or mystery related, and my favorite among these is "Strychnine in the Soup," which has some amusing comments about a bestselling mystery novel. And that reminds me of "Best Seller," which is about a young man in the publishing game. He can't stand romance novels, and he's engaged to a girl who's never written anything before but who writes a bestselling romance novel after their engagement. "The Smile that Wins" is about a detective with an odd smile. It makes people confess. There are two fine stories about cats, and every story here made me laugh. I don't think of any of them as top-shelf Wodehouse, but you can't go wrong with Wodehouse, no matter what shelf you're choosing from. If you need a laugh or a smile, you'll find plenty of both in this collection.
"The Smile that Wins"
"The Story of Webster"
"Cats Will be Cats"
"The Knightly Quest of Mervyn"
"The Voice from the Past"
"Open House"
"Best Seller"
"Strychnine in the Soup"
"Gala Night"
7 comments:
I read Mulliner Nights year ago and loved it. The story-telling aspect of the tales are very clever and entertaining.
I've read the first of the Mulliner collections (Meet Mr. Mulliner) but obviously need to read the other two, including this one. They're a lot of fun.
I have read The Inimitable Jeeves by Wodehouse only and I have always intended to read more; so, going to check out Mulliner Nights. Thanks for the writeup.
You can't miss with Jeeves. He and Bertie are my favorites.
As Waugh said, Wodehouse was a master writer. The fact that his stories are as funny now as when he wrote them is amazing.
Wodehouse is a great favorite with Kitty and myself. My personal favorites are his Blandings Castle stories, although Bertie and Jeeves come close, as do Mr. Mulliner and The Oldest Member. Wodehouse put a lot of work into making his stories sound easy.
I don't think I have seen Kitty's mother more excited than when, while working at the IRS, she handled a payment check signed by Wodehouse. At that moment she felt one step away from greatness.
I've read only the Bertie and Jeeves stories of his. Mulliner Nights sounds fun, too,
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