Lord Emsworth and Others
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Lord Emsworth and Others is a book of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, published in 1937 by Herbert Jenkins, Publishers. Its US title was The Crime Wave at Blandings. Penguin Books published an edition in 1966.
Though nominally a Blandings Castle book due to the titular story, it also contains stories about Ukridge, Mulliner, and The Oldest Member.
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Contents
The Crime Wave at Blandings
Lady Constance has decided that Lord Emsworth needs a personal secretary -- and chooses the efficient Rupert Baxter. Meanwhile, his niece Jane wants him to employ her fiancé, George Abercrombie, the position of Estate Manager at Blandings, much to the dismay of Connie. Emsworth, who would rather be reading Whipple's 'On the Care of the Pig', cannot imagine a way out, until an air gun confiscated from young Master George shows the way.
Buried Treasure
Mr Mulliner's nephew Brancepeth wants to marry his beloved Muriel but hasn't a sou to do it on, so her father Lord Bromborough is forcing her to marry the boob of the first water Edwin Potter (heir of Potter's Potted Meats). Bromborough has a weakness, though: his great moustache Joyeuse, which he compares favorably to Love in Idleness, the facial decoration of Potter's father Sir Preston. Having been invited to Rumpling Hall to paint a portrait of Lord Bromborough, Brancepeth realizes that if he can turn a mustachless Bromborough into an animated cartoon in Hollywood, fame, fortune, and Muriel are his.
The Letter of the Law
The President's Cup and the love of Gwendolyne Poskitt occasion the only time The Oldest Member ever saw profit from driving into anyone. Young Wilmot Bing loves Gwendolyne, but has recently smote her father (a member of the Wrecking Crew) a juicy one on the leg for holding up play. To win her hand, the Oldest Member recommends that Wilmot appease Poskitt, and he does so -- up to the day of the President's Cup match. In that match, Poskitt plays well above form, but ends up in match play against Wadswordth Hemmingway, an ex-lawyer-turned-golfer who carries the Book of Rules in his bag and makes it his best club. With one swing, Wilmot ensures that Poskitt gets the Cup and Wilmot gets his bride.
Farewell To Legs
The betrothal of Evangeline Brackett to Angus McTavish is built, in large part, on the way she bites her lip and rolls her eyes when she tops her drive, says the Oldest Member. But when Legs Mortimer takes up residence in the Clubhouse, Evangeline's mind wanders from her golf, and Angus worries that she is losing her form for the Ladies' Medal. But the scales fall from Evangeline's eyes when Legs does the unthinkable on the links.
There's Always Golf
Clarice Fitch was a force to be reckoned with, recalls the Oldest Member, and weedy, bespectacled accountant Ernest Plinlimmon is powerfully affected by the impact of her personality. But like hundreds of others, he escapes her notice, until he encounters her on the eighteenth fairway, needing a four to win the Medals Competition. But she is not playing -- she is tying her shoelace. When a forceful woman comes between a man and a coveted tournament medal, she sees the true depths of his soul.
The Masked Troubador
Freddie Widgeon is heartbroken and penniless, again, to no surprise of his Drones Club fellows. And his uncle Lord Blicester will only unbelt should Freddie marry Dora Pinfold, who does Good Works in a sort of a mission over on Notting Hill. Freddie borrows a few bob to fill the Notting Hill mothers with tea and buns till their eyes bubble, but loses it on a bet over a Brazil nut, so he must enter a talent competition in rough-and-tumble Bottleton East to recover his funds and woo Miss Pinfold. Unfortunately, with Jos. Waterbury as his accompanist, this may be harder than it sounds.
Ukridge and the Home from Home
Ukridge comes up with a scheme of renting out rooms in his Aunt Julia's house while she is on an extended stay in Hollywood. Unfortunately, she returns prematurely, forcing him to find a way to encourage his paying customers to decamp voluntarily.
The Come-back of Battling Bilson
Ukridge needs ten quid to repay a dancing society to whom he has leased his Aunt Julia's house (which is of course suddenly unavailable). To raise the funds he takes on Battling Bilson for a match against One-Round Peebles and commences training. Unfortunately Aunt Julia’s butler Oakshott has an interest in the outcome, and a ready supply of port, and Bilson's training comes off the rails. But with the unexpected help of Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer, Bilson triumphs and Ukridge is solvent again.
The Level Business Head
Ukridge has pawned Aunt Julia’s brooch to buy a half-interest in a dog, who is a cinch to win the Waterloo Cup. But his partner, Joe the Lawyer, is not an honest man, and when informed that the dog is actually dead, Ukridge must find a way to recover his stake. His opportunity comes when Joe's car breaks down on a lonely road, and Ukridge finds that the buying and selling of dogs, even vicious ones, can be quite profitable indeed.