Customer Reviews

Do Butlers Burgle Banks?

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To those readers of Wodehouse stuck only on Bertie & Jeeves, I urge you to explore further with this tale. Gently satirical, romantic, timeless, and, of course, complexly and predictably plotted, with the usual dose of P.G.'s silliness. Who needs more? An enjoyable read.

A true Wodehousian romance, complete with chivalrous gangsters, plucky young women and feisty older ones, bank robbers "getting religion," and pious Scotland Yarders getting their comeuppance. A soothing little snack for the mind.

A gentle beautiful fantasy of a book. It's been claimed that Wodehouse is somewhat lacking in variety that if you've read one you've read them all. This book argues against that there is all the feeling and romance that anyone could ask for it is warm witty and wonderful, it maybe lacks the comfortability of a Jeeves or Blandings story or the freshness of Laughing Gas but it is still absolutely brilliant.

"Do Butlers Burgle Banks?" is a light, frothy escapade from the inimitable P.G. Wodehouse. Decidedly thin on plot and sometimes on characterization, this criminal caper is still full of Wodehouse's trademark wit and humor. It is a delightful escape into a bygone era.

Horace Appleby is a criminal mastermind, preferring to plot the dirty work rather than do it. He needs a new challenge, so when he hears about the always profitable Bond's Bank, he sets his sights on burgling the bank and not the house where he has disguisedly set up residence as a butler. However, Horace did not bank on several things - the fact that a formerly employed criminal from America would come hunting him down, the fact that a nurse who was in residence at a house he previously burgled is installed at the Bond homestead, or the fact that he would fall head-over-heels in love with the secretary of the bank. Another fact that he couldn't forsee is that Bond's Bank is no longer as successful as everyone has believed it to be and that the owner may welcome a spot of burglary to help him out of his dire situation - and there are others besides Appleby who would be happy to help him out.

"Do Butlers Burgle Banks?" is a fast-paced read which alternates between various stories - that of Horace Appleby and his rapidly diminishing gang of criminals, that of Mike Bond's business and personal travails, and that of several other minor characters within the novel. At times there is almost too much going on and just a few too many complications seem to arise to prevent Horace Appleby from carrying out his plans. Yet the right people get their comeuppances in the end, even if the resolution is rather rushed. It is delightful, vintage Wodehouse.

The then 87-year-old Wodehouse still had six years of life and writing ahead, but his age does show in this slight, breezy escapade mixing rather cliched Chicago gangsters with their more refined though no less amoral criminal counterparts across the pond. Though Plum lived many years in the USA, he never managed Yankee dialogue convincingly; on the few occasions here when he attempts it, it glares.

Other shortcomings include his relatively weak characterizations of what should be pretty interesting characters, like Mike the reluctant heir to a troubled bank, and his loving wife-to-be, Jill. They are etched with a vagueness that the author would have eschewed in prior years. Also, their willingness to engage in clearly criminal activity to rescue the bank from insolvency makes them somewhat less sympathetic than they ought to be.

The ending is rushed and unsatisfying, smacking of a looming deadline.

Still, there is some fun to be had; you could do worse on a warm summer day at the beach than peruse Do Butlers Burgle Banks.

The subject of this review says it all, really.

Definitely worth reading, if you have never read a Wodehouse novel, or are reading one after a while...