Do butlers burgle banks? Book

Horrace Appleby is the brains behind a criminal organization known as the Appleby Gang. They've eluded police on both sides of the Atlantic and are about to embark on their latest scheme. Thanks to a tip about a Worcestershire bank, Appleby installs himself as butler in Mallow Hall, home of Mike Bond, of Bond's Bank. Mike's uncle Hugo was a generous benefactor and Appleby is convinced the bank is ripe for picking. However, that's before he meets the lovely Ada, Mike's secretary and before Mike's aunt's nurse Jill discovers what is distracting Mike and keeping him from proposing marriage and before one of the gang backs out for the most unlikely reasons.

This isn't Wodehouse at his best. It took me a very long time to get into. Most of the book is the set up for the titular action. The dialogue is charming in spots and the plot cute in spots but not all together above par for Wodehouse. The plot moves too slowly and the falling action is wrapped up so quickly and unbelievably. The romances come out of nowhere and are not believable. The plot surprised me though because it was rather different from Wodehouse's usual love triangle plot.

The characters are flat and bland, except for Appleby. He's an interesting and complicated character. He is a very unusual butler, even for Wodehouse. I love the way he speaks and how he's the mastermind behind the gang. He's a thinker not a do-er. The rest of the gang and straight up parodies of gangster film characters. They make the story actually amusing, especially Basher. The women in this story are horrible. There's the tyrannical aunt laid up in bed; her nurse and confidant who has brains and uses them for her own advantage, and the sweet but not pretty secretary. Mike wasn't very fleshed out either. He appears only briefly here and there in the story.

If Wodehouse wasn't the master at comedy, I would probably rate this higher.