This is one of my favourite Wodehouse novels. The Gedges have rented the Chateu Brissac in St. Rocque for the summer. J. Wellington Gedge loathes St. Rocque and wants only to go home to Glendale, California. He is horrified to discover that his ambitious wife has decided that he is to be American Ambassador to France, and to that end she has invited Senator Opal and his daughter Jane to stay at the Chateau. Mr. Gedge doesn't know that the Senator is only coming because he is being blackmailed by Mrs. Gedge. A chance encounter in a London hotel between the Opals and a young American, Packy Franklin, leads to Packy making his way to Saint Rocque to help the the Opals recover the letter with which Mrs Gedge is blackmailing the Senator, also to try and help Jane to be united with her secret fiancee, an impoverished writer called Blair Eggleston, who, greatly to his surprise, finds himself working as Senator Opal's valet. Meanwhile Packy is pretending to be the Vicomte de Blissac, an American crook called Gordon Carlisle is pretending to be the Duc de Pont-Aundermere, with a view to pinching Mrs Gedge's jewels, with the help of Soup Slattery, a safe cracker, and various other characters are helping to complicate matters. This is an absolutely wonderful story, gloriously convoluted, full of delightful characters and told in Wodehouse's inimitable style. This audio version is beautifuly read by Jonathan Cecil, who does a terrific job of portraying all the characters, I particularly like his irrascible Senator Opal, and his husky Soupl Slattery. A delight.
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