Really 3.5 stars. This is the first of the books featuring Lord Emsworth and Blandings Castle. There is no Empress of Blandings in this one. This book was originally written in 1915, but there is no hint of war or desolation on the horizon of Wodehouse's world.
When the absent-minded Lord Emsworth pockets the valuable Egyptian scarab belonging to the future father-in-law of his son, the Hon. Freddie Threepwood, elaborate schemes are set in motion to recover the precious item. A dyspeptic butler, a nosy secretary, two desperately poor writers, and a shady acquaintance who is not averse to using blackmail all converge on Blandings Castle and disrupt the peace of Lord Emsworth.
This book falls short of the comic genius of the later novels, but the bones of Wodehouse's style can be observed. It reads like Gosford Park or Downton Abbey played as a farce.

Highlights: The cat fight, perhaps the best single scene Wodehouse has ever written. The Efficient Baxter’s three-way midnight stair tumble, absolutely exquisite and perhaps tied with the cat fight. And Joan, a self-possessed, adventurous, thoroughly satisfying female lead.

This book is so completely unlike dear Bertie Wooster and his first-person jumbly shenanigans. In contrast the tone is downright serious. It is possibly my favorite Wodehouse, and certainly an unmixed pleasure.

Hamza was rollling his eyes at me giggling at this book
Slapstick is timeless!!

It's might not actually BE something fresh - but it is 100% charming Wodehouse.

This is really tremendous fun. It's a zany comic heist story, with a dash of romance and chock-full of larger-than-life characters and absurd coincidences, and a plot that twists and turns like a twisty-turny thing.

3.5

As always, Woodhouse's subtle yet stinging humor is a delight.

This was my first Blandings book. Actually, it was my first Wodehouse that wasn't a Jeeves novel and I can't say that I was disappointed. Clearly, judging from my rating, I loved it. The book was written in a sort of omniscient third person that was well aware it was narrating, which was perfect. The characters, while still being Wodehousian caricatures, still managed to be relatively well rounded and likable. In the end everything ended up as it should and it didn't feel typical. Basically, all the things that make Wodehouse so popular are present here and were, as always, delightful.

Searching for a lead character in this ensemble is difficult but I suppose I'd have to concede that the honor goes to Mr. Ashe Marson, writer of tepid (and really rather embarrassing) popular crime novels. Upon a chance meeting with Miss Joan Valentine he decides to embark on a more adventurous lifestyle. At the same time the Hon. Freddie Threepwood, second son to the rather absent minded Lord Emsworth, has become engaged to American heiress, Aline Peters who's father is an avid collector of Egyptian scarabs. Events are set into motion when Lord Emsworth visits Peters and accidentally pockets the prize of the latter's collection and move to Blandings Castles where the whole cast of characters end up for a hilarious jaunt in the country.

It's a quick read and hilariously funny. And of course I'm continually enamored of everybody's name.

Just not for me.