Something Fishy

First edition

Something Fishy is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 18 January 1957 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on January 28, 1957 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, under the title The Butler Did It.[1]

The plot concerns a tontine formed by a group of wealthy men weeks before the 1929 stock market crash, and a butler named Keggs who, having overheard the planning of the scheme, years later decides to try to make money out of his knowledge.

The novel features hero Bill Hollister and anti-hero Roscoe Bunyun, who are the sons of the men who set up the tontine. The last one to become married will receive one million dollars from the tontine. Keggs, the former butler to Bunyun's father, informs Roscoe of the secret tontine. Keggs is now retired and wealthy. He supports his impoverished former employer, the genial and often confused Lord Uffenham, and Uffenham's daughter Jane. A chance meeting between Bill and Jane turns to romance, Keggs' plan is undone by Roscoe, and Lord Uffenham and Keggs plot to save the day for Bill and Jane.

Something Fishy also features Percy Pilbeam, the unscrupulous head of the Argus Detective Agency, who first appeared in Bill the Conqueror (1924) and was in several other Wodehouse books, including a visit to Blandings Castle in Summer Lightning (1929).

References

  1. ↑ McIlvaine, E., Sherby, L.S. and Heineman, J.H. (1990) P.G. Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist. New York: James H. Heineman, pp. 92-93. ISBN 087008125X


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