Big Money - P.G. Wodehouse

Berry Conway and Lord Biskerton make for very different kind of Wodehouse heroes. While we are used to the suave and glb talking PSmith, and the helplessly dependent on the faculties of his buter, Bertie, these are very likeable guys whose characters are without a blemish.
The same can not be said about Berry Conway. Because playing an imposter of an officer of the law is a serious criminal offense. Though he had good reasons to play the part, but that does not excuse him of his felonies.

And Lord Biskerton, or Biscuit as he is called, is worse off. He is one of those money swindling characters who can never have a meal of their own sweat and toil. And he seems to have inherited that from his father!

There is a Patterson Frisby who is the miserly employer of Berry Conway, who is interested in a copper mine held by Conway. And he employs his aide, more of a sniveling, servile, yes man who performs any duty a rich man will ask him to perform to be in the rich man’s good books. But the yes-man, Hoke, gets his brain cells working and spots a money making opportunity of a lifetime in the mine.

And if you are thinking Big Money is only about the money, you are gravely mistaken. What would a Wodehouse book be if there was no love at first sight and angels singing romantic songs on their harps? There is an Ann Moon the girl who makes men weak in their knees wherever she goes, who Berry Conway loves like a dog loves his master. But she is engaged to the Biscuit and Conway is not a friend who can inflict misery on his pals. Biscuit and Ann came in contact through Biscuit’s aunt, Vera (somehow there are a great many Vera’s in Wodehouse books, possibly the only name he has ever repeated) who is playing chaperone to the American Ann in London. And Ann is also Frisby’s niece which brings Aunt Vera and Patterson quite close.
The fundamental problem however, remains that Berry has no dough and Biskerton is an impoverished Lord, and for their love tangles to be sorted they will need some lucre in good time. And the copper mine, while an asset is a dud hole in the ground, which Berry can not get a lot of cash for, but Frisby’s acute money making mind has some different plans with the “Dream come true”. Oh that’s the name of the mine.

And in resolving this problem come the hilarious tangles and misunderstandings and violence which will leave you with an aching tummy. This is one of Wodehouse’s best!