Pearls, Girls And Monty Bodkin

Monty Bodkin #3

by P.G. Wodehouse

Written to celebrate the author's ninety-first birthday - a flawless piece of classic comic writing. What happened to Monty Bodkin's love for Hockey International Gertrude Butterwick? His year in Hollywood completed, he leaves behind his heartbroken secretary, Sandy Miller, and arrives in London to claim his Amazon's had. However, teh Bodkin road to happiness is arduous, and pitfalled through and through

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Audiobook, Classics, Comedy, British Literature, Romance

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of Wodehouse's typical comedies where a male-female duo of thieves infest an English manor house inhabited by daffy aristocrats. This one actually starts in Hollywood, where the main character is working at a movie studio. That was a nice change of scenery. But after that the story follows Wodehouse's tried and true method of storytelling. There's a guy engaged to a girl. The will-they-won't-they plot plays itself out and nothing earth shattering happens therein. The best parts of this book are in the author's clever and humorous narrative. It's not quite Wooster-&-Jeeves-good, but it is good!

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pearls, Girls And Monty Bodkin (1972) takes place one year after the events of The Luck of the Bodkins (1935).

Monty Bodkin finishes his year at Llewellyn Studios to discover that J.D. Butterwick, Gertrude Butterwick's father, who insisted that Monty work for a year before he could marry Gertrude, concludes that Monty's year of employment doesn't count and he'll have to work another year before being able to marry his daughter. This is the set up for another pleasing read. Con-couple Soapy and Dolly Molloy also make another appearance.

Pearls, Girls And Monty Bodkin is another splendid, if somewhat slight, P.G. Wodehouse life reaffirming yarn. Funny and charming in equal measure. Even in 1972, when Wodehouse was 90 years old, he could still deliver the goods.

4/5

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the P.G. Wodehouse books! They are always funny. The dialogue is in 1920's slang which is hilarious!
In this story Monty Bodkin wants to marry the hockey player. Her father is against it because he thinks Monty is shiftless. Rich and useless. So he tells Monty that if he wants to marry his daughter he has to hold a job for a year. So, Monty gets a job in Hollywood working on motion pictures.
There he meets Sandy Miller. She falls in love with him and works her magic until he finally sees she is the better choice. Along the way are robberies, guns and confusion Wodehouse style.
This book is lots of fun and easy to enjoy.

[Lizz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

And I never give a three to a Wodehouse so what is going on? Well, PG was 91 when he wrote this follow-up to the story of Monty Bodkins, twenty years after the first. The story is ok, but not zany. The characters are quite bland this time around. Like in all Wodehouse stories, you know the ending from the start, but stay because the journey is that much fun. Sadly not too much fun. Still a damn good book from a man in his nineties. Clear, coherent and stylish. Unlike the geriatric government leaders of…. Oh never mind.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin picks up one year after the events of Luck of the Bodkins. Monty finishes his year at Llewellyn studios, oblivious to the fact that his secretary is in love with him, only to find out that J.D. Butterwick says his year of employment doesn't count adn he'll have to work another year to earn the lady Butterwick's hand. Fortunately, Sandy, his secretary, follows him to England while working for Llewellyn's wife Grayce and gets Monty hired on as a secretary.

Throw in a string of pearls, husband and wife con artists, and one dodgy English detective and there you have it. Not my favorite Wodehouse by any means but still worth a read. How can you not enjoy a story with a character named Oily Carmichael in it?

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its hard to believe Plum wrote this at 91 years of age. I tried and true Wodehouse tradition it has great characters, witty dialogue and is genuinely funny. Monty Bodkin gets the right girl and escapes a fate worse than death called Gertrude.

The only weakness is the ending where the pearls are identified as fake by Gertrude’s new jeweler man. But how does he get to see them if Adair the dodgy valet and detective has them. Putting that aside still hilarious.

Best lines for me ‘Precisely that,’ said Gertrude, her teeth coming together with a click which sounded as if Spanish dancers were brushing up their castanet playing in the vicinity.’

[W · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this when I had just started reading Wodehouse. His characters and his methodology were not very familiar.

I couldn't muster much interest for this one.Now I see that it was written when Wodehouse was over 90 years old.So,if this is not a great book,there are mitigating circumstances.

And when Wodehouse writes about Hollywood,it's not as enjoyable as his books in traditional English settings.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not amongst my favourite, but any Wodehouse is good.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

silly and fast-paced and good-humored
I was thrilled to experience an audiobook with such a wonderful performance that captured the spirit of fun of this story!
much better than any screen adaptation could be...

**performed by Jonathan Cecil
app 5 hrs

"Good Lord!" he exclaimed. "You're a crook!"
"Well, we've all got to be something."
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself! What's a nice girl like you doing shoving guns against people's weskits?"

"One of the first things a chronicler has to learn, if he's to be any real good at chronicling, is when to ease up and take a breather. Aristotle was all for sticking to pity and terror without a break, but he was wrong. It's a mistake to curdle the reader's blood all the time. Sequences of spine-chilling drama, with people telling other people to stick 'em up and prodding them in the stomach with pistols, should be punctuated with simple domestic scenes in which fathers are shown talking quietly to daughters, and daughters equally quietly to fathers, otherwise the mixture becomes too rich."
-P.G. Wodehouse, Pearls, Girls, and Monty Bodkin

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: In a show of writing ability, Wodehouse wrote this third novel in the Monty Bodkin series 37 years after the second, when he was 90 years old. The novel starts where the previous one left, with Monty still trying to prove himself against the mistrust of the father of his betrothed, Gertrude Butterwick.

There is a mistake, however. In those 37 years, Wodehouse seems to have forgotten that his hero was a nephew of Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, Baronet. In chapter two, to Sandy Miller's question on whether he has any aristocratic relations, Monty answers: "not one." And this, which is obviously not true, is an important issue during the remainder of the novel. But let's be compassionate with the author, for this minor mistake does not preclude the reader from enjoying the novel to the full.

ESPAÑOL: Demostrando su habilidad excepcional, Wodehouse escribió esta tercera novela de la serie de Monty Bodkin 37 años después de la segunda, cuando tenía 90 años. La novela comienza donde acaba la anterior, con Monty tratando de luchar contra la desconfianza del padre de su prometida, Gertrude Butterwick.

Hay un error, sin embargo. En esos 37 años, Wodehouse parece haberse olvidado de que su héroe era sobrino de Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, Baronet. En el capítulo dos, a la pregunta de Sandy Miller sobre si tiene algún pariente aristócrata, Monty responde: "ni uno". Y esto, que obviamente no es cierto, influye en el resto de la novela. Pero seamos compasivos con el autor, ya que este pequeño error no impide que el lector disfrute al máximo de la novela.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this late Wodehouse novel, enhanced by Jonathan Cecil's brilliant narration. I was a tiny bit worried that this book, first published in 1972 when Wodehouse was 90, would be lacking some of the sparkle and wit I love so much in the Bertie & Jeeves books. However, while certain elements were familiar, the characters and dialogue were top-notch (and even at his best there was some repetition: Bertie would get embroiled with situation, Jeeves would come up with a scheme which would put Bertie in a ridiculous position but would free him from his entanglement).

Personally I thought that this was better than Piccadilly Jim (which is on the Guardian's list), especially if you want to read a stand-alone.

[Mauro · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wodehousian exercise is try to intrincate a situation to a point where no possible solution is visible to the reader - and the rules to the solution must be within his own boundaries: no violence (or at least no non-funny violence), no sudden deaths, no Deus ex machina - you have to see it coming, and still do not grasp it completely.

In this one, there is a little flaw in the plot, and I am not going to tell what it is. (Or maybe there isn't, for I read the last three chapters with martinis for company.



(Note to self: this is the one where he mentions Thomas Hardy. HAHAHHAHAA).

[E.M. Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing old English novel, full of all the expected stereotypes but plenty of unexpected wit

[Amy Prosenjak · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a caper!

[John Frankham · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third novel about Monty Bodkin, spaced over many decades. This one lacks the Blandings background of the first, and the Atlantic crossing of the second, and has instead, the three crooks - Chimp, Soapy, and Dolly, who are not quite in the same 'class' in all respects. But, still a great treat of great writing, plotting, and humour. Lovely!

The GR blurb:

'Written to celebrate the author's ninety-first birthday - a flawless piece of classic comic writing. What happened to Monty Bodkin's love for Hockey International Gertrude Butterwick? His year in Hollywood completed, he leaves behind his heartbroken secretary, Sandy Miller, and arrives in London to claim his Amazon's had. However, teh Bodkin road to happiness is arduous, and pitfalled through and through.'

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to my read, Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin is the third of three books with a leading role for Monty Bodkins. The first, Stormy Weather was published in 1935. The original copyright date on my Penguin is 1972. P.G. Wodehouse was about 91 by this time. It is hard for me to not be very enthusiastic about anything Wodehouse, but this one seems a bit tired. PG , AKA Plum had a long history of reusing plot elements, but there is not enough original nor enough PG sparkle to fully carry the lack of originality.

For a first-time reader, or one not deeply read in the society froth of Plum’s library shelf, (something like 70 published books) Pearls, Girls is fair enough, but for me it was a letdown.

Protagonist Monty Bodkins is a little unusual for a Wodehouse hero. His is well to do, not entirely a fool and not dependent on his butler. Indeed, he has none. He is rattle brained on the subject of women. This last being something of a requirement for all Wodehouse leading men. He is of course engaged to a woman entirely unsuitable for him and not yet aware that his one true love is his Hollywood assistant, quick thinking, Sandy Mille.

As per usual the action takes place in a remote vast English, county house. We have the American Millionaire much given to bodily excesses, but unusually, a good chap in the clenches. Of course, his wife (number 5 or 6) is a harridan. There are jewels, thieves, private eyes and comedic complications. The elements almost as per a check off list, but with some slight variations.

At a brisk 170 pages it is a typical, pleasant read with only a few dragging parts. Pearls, Girls, and Monty Bodkins is 100% Wodehouse, but maybe not from his best.

[Beau Stucki · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A girl who bonnets a policeman with an ashcan full of bottles is obviously good wife-and-mother timber.”

Plum is all about patterns and motifs - crackerjack women like Sandy traipse through many of his stories. One wonders what Mrs. Wodehouse was like

The connection to the first Monty novel is so thin, it is a joke in itself. And I laughed.

[Shrewbie Spitzmaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but highly enjoyable sequel to "The Luck Of The Bodkins" where we learn what happens next after Monty wins back the girl he was engaged to, Gertrude Butterwick... lots of typical Wodehouse plotting (which is always a good thing)!

[Boadicea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swell rannygazoo!

[John Langley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best, but lots of wordplay and fun. Strange American angle on Englishness and vice versa. Good narration.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very snappy read, characters were all stupid in their own unique way. Laughed at quite a few things and definitely enjoyed, but not life changing humour - pretty standard

[Varad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the last books Wodehouse wrote (it was published in 1972), but it was the first one I read. So perhaps I came into Wodehouse backwards, beginning with a late, minor novel intstead of an earlier featuring famous characters such as Jeeves and Wooster.

On the back cover the book is described as "a gentle comic romp." That's about right. I'd describe it as the novel equivalent of a screwball comedy. It has all the trappings of one: rich people behaving slightly naughtily, romantic misunderstandings, a put-upon husband and his domineering wife, hijinks and escapades, speakeasies, a married con-artist couple, a private detective called Chimp (because he looks like one) who's more of a crook (and a sworn enemy of the cons), and it ends with everything wrapped up in a bow. And, of course, it has pearls, girls, and Monty Bodkin.

Monty loves hockey player Gertrude Butterwick. But Gertrude's father won't consent to a marriage until Monty proves he can hold a job. Monty's wealthy, you see, and Gertrude's father doesn't want to see her marrying some rich layabout. So Monty must work for a year. Monty contrives to get a job at Ivory Llewellyn's Hollywood movie studio via blackmail, but when Gertrude's father finds out he did it this way, says it doesn't count. So Monty asks for a second chance. Then Mrs. Llewellyn hires Monty as her husband's secretary to help him write his memoirs. Unbeknownst to Monty, his secretary, Sandy Miller, is in love with her boss (I did say this is like a screwball comedy, didn't I), and she's come to England, too, to get her man. The pearls are there, the girls are there, the crooks are there. And so's Monty Bodkin. Once Sandy and Monty and everyone are established at the Llewellyns' summer home, the fun begins.

It is a lot of fun. Or, I should say, amusing. You smile more than you laugh, but you will laugh. Especially when the plucky Sandy dumps pail after pail of garbage on the cop who raids the nightclub Ivor Llewellyn has brought Sandy and Monty to. The cop, as it turns out, is a college chum of Monty, and has an eye for Gertrude. Romantic misunderstandings, what?

The novel was published in 1972, but it makes no sense unless you imagine it taking place in 1932. There are a few anachronisms, though, which make you wonder just when it's taking place. For example, Wodehouse refers to girls in shampoo commercials. Obviously, there were no shampoo commercials in 1932. But in the 1970s no one was taking steamers across the Atlantic and movie studios didn't run the way they are portrayed here. So just ignore the anachronisms and keep thinking "1932."*

You'll be able to finish this book in a day or two. It goes very quickly. But while it lasts, you'll have fun. The characters certainly are.


*The internet tells me this was a sequel to a book published in the 1930s. That would explain both why it feeels like it takes place then and why it has anachronisms. The ninety-year-old Wodehouse perhaps didn't even notice, though one would like to think his editor might have.


Published 3 April 2015

[Ian Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Pears, Girls and Monty Bodkin’ continues one year after the business in ‘The Luck of the Bodkins’ concluded and it tells the continuing story of Monty Bodkin and his engagement to Gertrude Butterwick which relies on his remaining in someone’s employ for a whole year. Monty secured a position with movie mogul Ikey Llewellyn after unwittingly smuggling some jewels for his wife Grayce. Gertrude’s father, J. P. Butterwick has decided to consider the evidence of employment inadmissible due to the way it way gained and so Monty is charged with maintaining a further year of receiving the old envelope.

Further complications occur when Monty is re-employed on a more traditional basis by Ikey on the recommendation of Sandy Miller whom has fallen in love with our hero. The love is returned but Monty cannot initially see it, as indeed no one sees the trio of confidence tricksters whom are out to steal Grayce Llewellyn’s jewels. Step forward Dolly the Dip, Soap Molloy and Chimp Twist whom we met previously in ‘Sam the Sudden’; ‘Money for Nothing’; ‘Hot Water’; ‘Money in the Bank’ and ‘Ice in the Bedroom’.

If the plot appears complicated you should try the resolution. Definitely one of the masters most overlooked master pieces and one of my own personnel favourites, probably only bettered by its predecessor ‘The Luck of the Bodkins’ or possibly the Blandings story that first introduced us to Monty, ‘Heavy Weather’.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Wodehouse, revisited after 30 years. Another excellent story of rich Americans in an English stately home, with the familiar refrain of the criminal classes (the Molloys and Chimp Twist) competing to see who can steal a priceless string of pearls, which of course turn out to be fake anyway, while the hero finds true love and tries to extricate himself from his rocky engagement to a hockey international. Features the movie studio boss Ivor Lewellyn with an abrupt change of character, now looking more like a kindly dutch uncle in the Galahad style rather than the abrasive movie mogul of earlier works.

An easy and well structured read - hard to believe it was written by a 90 year old.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Bodkins solo book was published around in 1935, prime Wodehouse period. This direct sequel was published in 1972, 37 years later. Now that is some wait for a sequel.

I do not like Wodehouse post-WW2 novels (apart from a couple of exceptions, all Blandings) as much as his pre-WW2 novels. Something is gone, if only some sort of spirit. Here is prime example of something missing, particularly when directly compared to Luck of the Bodkins, some extravagance, some something.

Even by Wodehouse standards, the ending of the plot is fast and unbelievable. There is one of the most embarassingly obvious prequel recaps I have ever seen. Characters, ah well. Still enjoyable though. But only recommended if you ran out, or are afraid to ran out of pre-1940 Wodehouse.

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casual Notes...

(U.S. title: The Plot that Thickened)

This is the third in the Bodkin-Butterwick saga (see also: Heavy Weather and Luck of the Bodkins). Seriously. Treat yourself.

This sequel is rendered a mite strange because one year has passed in the Wodehouse Universe but, upon examining the RealTimeStamp betwixt Luck and Plot, 35+ years have frittered away.

Example par excellence: talkies were new in Luck, and television is a green G-O ho-hum in Plot.

But I suppose we can say, time is relative when you're pining for a Butterwick.

Wodehouse on Flattering a Woman: "You're the prettiest girl that ever swiped a silk camisole from the lingerie department when the store detective wasn't noticing."

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. Not my favorite Wodehouse book, though. I really liked the one before this, The Luck of the Bodkins, and I was disappointed by the plot to this one: in The Luck of the Bodkins, Monty spends the whole time trying to make it so he can marry his loved one, Gertrude Butterwick. In this one, though, Gertrude gets annoyed with him, and he falls in love with his secretary, so they break their engagement and each marry different people, and that's supposed to be the "happily ever after" ending. Overall disappointing, since I loved The Luck of the Bodkins so much. It did have the characteristic Wodehouse humor, though, so it was not without its laugh-out-loud moments.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse always makes me laugh. This book was published in 1971, definitely one of his later books, but with the exception of some mild language (the first time I can remember reading a curse in a Wodehouse book) and references to electric guitars and television commercials, this story could have been set in the usual between-the-wars Wodehouse world of country houses and gentlemen's clubs. One of the main characters is the owner of a movie studio, and I enjoyed the filmmaking and film history references.

At some point the title of this book was changed, because the book I read is titled "The Plot that Thickened" but it is indeed about pearls, girls, and Monty Bodkin.

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Measured on a scale of sheer humor, this may not be one of Wodehouse's best works. There is good humor here and a good sized dash of Wodehouse's typical genius, but the main selling point on this book is the delightful way the plot thickens and complicates towards the end. I've read lots of P.G. Wodehouse books, but this is the first one I've tackled in quite a while. It wouldn't necessarily be my first recommendation, but it was enjoyable!

[Michael Bafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a "late" book by Mr Wodehouse, published in 1972. And as such, one I had not read! I decided some time ago that any of his novels published after about 1950 were much less likely to please. I had, however, recently discovered, or rather rediscovered, Monty Bodkin in Heavy Weather (1933), which I have read at least a couple of times, being a particular fan of Blandings Castle and its inhabitants and imposters, and finding that Mr Bodkin had a series of his own, I followed on. I had read the second volume, The Luck of the Bodkins,(1935) previously as well, although not until the end of the last century. It was with delight I found this third book available at the local library.

The exuberance of Mr Wodehouse is very toned down here, a sign of age, no doubt, I notice the same lack of zip in myself. He was 91 when this was published, though, and I am barely into my 70's!

The characters are, as usual, pretty flat, although also somewhat complex and varied and, as always with Mr Wodehouse, diverting. The plot is pretty straight-forward and the reader has, as usual, little doubt about the ending – except in the particulars. Unlike any other of Mr Wodehouse's books though, as far as i am aware, this one ends with an impending divorce as well as the usual marriage! Also quite surprising is that Ivor Llewellyn, the Hollywood mogul, who has hated Monty with not always quiet passion during The Luck of the Bodkins now finds him useful and, indeed a friend!

What surprised me the most was probably that Monty, who is admittedly not the shiniest coin in the till manages to go through two ½ books happily engaged to Gertrude Butterwick! It does not require genius to realize when you are on the wrong path when warning signs are posted at every turn.

Monty is taking the night air at the Llewellyn's country manner.
"There is something very soothing in the atmosphere of an old country house in the small hours when all is still, but this is so only as long as all stays still. The whole effect is spoiled if, as you stand there soaking the old world peace into your system, a form looms up in front of you and a voice, speaking abruptly, says 'Stick 'em up' and the muzzle of a .38 Colt Special is thrust against your solar plexus.
Happening to Monty at this juncture, it gave him quite a start. He stuck them up, as desired, and stood there speechless. An easy conversationalist as a general rule, he found it impossible to think of anything to say." (p. 67)

Gertrude's father notices Monty's latest missive to his daughter:
"It cannot be insisted on too strongly that import and export merchants as a class do not read other people's letters. Few branches of commerce have a stricter code. Nevertheless, it must be stated that between Mr. Butterwick's catching sight of this one and his leaping at it like a seal going after a slice of fish, only a few seconds elapsed..." (p. 80)

Mr Llewellyn suffers the tribulations of a joint bank account when his wife puts him on a diet.
"...I remember lunching at a club years ago on one of my visits to London and it happened to be curry day. It was an experience I shall never forget. Chicken curry it was, and I had three helpings. Those were the days, Bodkin, those were the days. (p. 86)

Ivor gives fatherly advice to Monty:
"Your are that way about the midget, aren't you? Yes, I can see you are, and after they way she dumped that can on the cop I'm not surprised. A girl who bonnets a policeman with an ash-can full of bottles is obviously good wife and mother timbre. So get an immediate move on, my boy and heaven speed your wooing..." (p. 109)

Mr Butterwick is feeling blue:
"He might have borne up better if Gertrude had been there, but Gertrude had gone to a committee meeting of her hockey club, and in her absence it seemed impossible to find anything to do. A musician in his place could have played the piano or the electric guitar or the shawms or the cymbals or something, but he had never had a musical training. He could have read a good book, but there were none about nowadays. It really seemed as though he would be reduced to twiddling his fingers as recommended by the late Count Tolstoi as an alternative to smoking..." (p. 162-3)

Searching, like Flaubert, for the mot juste:
It proved beyond possibility of doubt that Montrose Bodkin had done it again. Precisely as had happened before, the young human snake had wriggled his way into the Llewellyn circle by means of what he, the snake, would have described as rannygazoo..." (p. 164)

Mrs Llewellyn regards her husband:
"If Grayce had not known how impossible it was that her husband could have obtained the materials, she would have leaped to the conclusion that he had been drinking. As it was, she attributed his words to the slowness of intellect which had so often led her to address him as a moron. In spite of his success in the motion picture industry she had always held the view that if he had had an ounce more sense, he would have been halfwitted. All his other wives, oddly enough, had felt the same." (p. 186)

Even the reader who has no earlier acquaintance with Montague – or possibly – Montrose Bodkin this is an enjoyable yarn, no sharp edges stick out and things proceed at a modest pace, generally, but the humour is warm and inviting.