Ice in the Bedroom

Last updated

Ice in the Bedroom
TheIceInTheBedroom.jpg
First edition (US)
Author P. G. Wodehouse
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Comic novel
Publisher Simon & Schuster (US)
Herbert Jenkins (UK)
Publication date
2 February 1961 (US)
15 October 1961 (UK)
Media typePrint

Ice in the Bedroom is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published as a book in the United States (where the title was The Ice in the Bedroom) on February 2, 1961 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on October 15, 1961 by Herbert Jenkins, London. [1]

Contents

It features several Wodehouse characters from earlier books, including Drones Club members Freddie Widgeon and Oofy Prosser, and the trio of criminals, "Chimp" Twist and "Soapy" and "Dolly" Molloy.

The novel has two intertwined sub-plots. Freddie Widgeon, who wishes to marry Sally Foster, is seeking to escape from a dull job in a London office to become the manager of a coffee plantation in Kenya. Meanwhile, in the normally quiet suburb of Valley Fields, where Freddie is living, a cache of jewellery, hidden in the home of Freddie's neighbour, is attracting the attention of a small gang of petty criminals.

The story is essentially a re-working of Sam the Sudden (1925), which was also set in the fictional Valley Fields, had a sub-plot in which the same three crooks were hunting for hidden treasure, and entwined this with a romantic sub-plot.

Plot

Freddie Widgeon is renting a villa called Peacehaven in the idyllic South London suburb of Valley Fields, and working, unhappily, in the office of Shoesmith, Shoesmith, Shoesmith and Shoesmith, solicitors. Soapy Molloy has just moved out of the house next door (Castlewood), to be replaced by the novelist Leila Yorke. Leila is published by Popgood and Grooly (a publishing firm also mentioned in other novels including Uncle Dynamite and Galahad at Blandings ), which is largely owned by Oofy Prosser. It turns out that Soapy has left some diamonds or "ice" (stolen from Oofy's wife Myrtle) in the bedroom of Castlewood. His wife Dolly, just released from jail, is determined to get it back. After several failed attempts, she comes up with the idea of trying to drive Leila out of her house by arranging for many people to knock on her door bearing cats, and later dogs.

Meanwhile, Freddie is keen to escape from his office job and go to Kenya to run a coffee plantation. He thinks he can finance this using oil stocks sold to him by Soapy. As usual he is in love, with Sally Foster, Leila's secretary. Sally is aware of Freddie's reputation with women and is unamused when he is repeatedly found in compromising situations with the glamorous Dolly.

In another sub-plot, Leila wants to find her estranged husband Joe. To this end she hires Chimp Twist. She also engages him to search for the cat perpetrator.

Dolly, Soapy and Chimp all break into Castlewood in an attempt to find the jewels, but they are surprised by George, Freddie's policeman cousin. The ice ends up in the hands of Freddie, who hopes that Oofy will reward him (Soapy's stock having turned out to be predictably worthless). But Oofy typically refuses. In the end, Mr Cornelius, the Valley Fields house agent, who's just come into a fortune, gives him the cash and all's well that ends well.

Publication history

The story was originally published, in a condensed version, in Canada in the November 11, 1960 issue of the Star Weekly , the weekend magazine supplement of the Toronto Star newspaper. [2]

The dust jacket of the first edition (US) was designed by Paul Bacon. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drones Club</span> Fictional club in stories by P. G. Wodehouse

The Drones Club is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British humorist P. G. Wodehouse. It is a gentlemen's club in London. Many of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Blandings Castle stories feature the club or its members.

<i>Lord Emsworth and Others</i> 1937 short story collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Lord Emsworth and Others is a collection of nine short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 19 March 1937 by Herbert Jenkins, London; it was not published in the United States. The Crime Wave at Blandings, which was published on 25 June 1937 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, is a very different collection, sharing only three of its seven titles with the UK book. Penguin Books published a UK edition of The Crime Wave at Blandings in 1966. The stories in both books had all previously appeared in both British and American magazines.

<i>Plum Pie</i> 1966 short story collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Plum Pie is a collection of nine short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 September 1966 by Barrie & Jenkins, and in the United States on 1 December 1967 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York. The collection's title is derived from P. G. Wodehouse's nickname, Plum.

<i>Leave It to Psmith</i> 1923 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Leave It to Psmith is a comic novel by English author P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 30 November 1923 by Herbert Jenkins, London, England, and in the United States on 14 March 1924 by George H. Doran, New York. It had previously been serialised, in the Saturday Evening Post in the US between 3 February and 24 March 1923, and in the Grand Magazine in the UK between April and December that year; the ending of this magazine version was rewritten for the book form.

<i>Nothing Serious</i> (short story collection) 1950 short story collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Nothing Serious is a collection of ten short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the United Kingdom on 21 July 1950 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 24 May 1951 by Doubleday & Co., New York. It was published again in 2008 by The Overlook Press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Few Quick Ones</span> 1959 short story collection by P. G. Wodehouse

A Few Quick Ones is a collection of ten short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the United States on 13 April 1959 by Simon & Schuster, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1959 by Herbert Jenkins, London. The first US edition dust jacket was designed by Paul Bacon. The book's title comes from the informal phrase "a quick one", which is British slang for an alcoholic drink consumed quickly.

<i>Eggs, Beans and Crumpets</i> 1940 short story collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Eggs, Beans and Crumpets is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on April 26, 1940 by Herbert Jenkins, London, then with a slightly different content in the United States on May 10, 1940 by Doubleday, Doran, New York.

<i>Sam the Sudden</i> 1925 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Sam the Sudden is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 15 October 1925 by Methuen, London, and in the United States on 6 November 1925 by George H. Doran, New York, under the title Sam in the Suburbs. The story had previously been serialised under that title in the Saturday Evening Post from 13 June to 18 July 1925.

<i>Mulliner Nights</i> 1933 short story collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Mulliner Nights is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. First published in the United Kingdom on 17 January 1933 by Herbert Jenkins, and in the United States on 15 February 1933 by Doubleday, Doran. The stories in the collection were originally published in magazines in the UK and the US between 1930 and 1932.

<i>Money for Nothing</i> (novel) 1928 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Money for Nothing is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 27 July 1928 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 28 September 1928 by Doubleday, Doran, New York. Immediately prior to publication it appeared as a serial, in London Calling magazine (UK) from 3 March to 28 July 1928 and in Liberty magazine (US) between 16 June and 22 September 1928.

<i>Young Men in Spats</i> 1936 short story collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Young Men in Spats is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 3 April 1936 by Herbert Jenkins, London, then in the United States with a slightly different selection of stories on 24 July 1936 by Doubleday, Doran, New York.

<i>Money in the Bank</i> (novel) 1942 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Money in the Bank is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 9 January 1942 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 27 May 1946 by Herbert Jenkins, London. UK publication was delayed while Wodehouse was under suspicion of collaboration during the Second World War. The book was published in English in Germany in August 1949 by Tauchnitz.

<i>Something Fishy</i> 1957 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Something Fishy is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 18 January 1957 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 28 January 1957 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, under the title The Butler Did It.

<i>Frozen Assets</i> (novel) 1964 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Frozen Assets is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 14 July 1964 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York under the title Biffen's Millions, and in the United Kingdom on 14 August 1964 by Herbert Jenkins, London.

<i>Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin</i> 1972 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin is a comic novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 12 October 1972 by Barrie & Jenkins, and in the United States on 6 August 1973 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. under the title The Plot That Thickened. Although written towards the end of the Wodehouse's life, and published 37 years after The Luck of the Bodkins (1935), the events of book follow on directly from those recounted in the earlier novel.

<i>Bachelors Anonymous</i> 1973 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Bachelors Anonymous is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 15 October 1973 by Barrie & Jenkins, London and in the United States on 28 August 1974 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York.

The following is a list of recurring or notable fictional locations featured in the stories of P. G. Wodehouse, in alphabetical order by place name.

"Company for Gertrude" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United Kingdom in September 1928 in Strand, and in the United States in October 1928 in Cosmopolitan. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), though the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929).

"The Go-Getter" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the March 1931 issue of Cosmopolitan, and in the United Kingdom in the August 1931 Strand. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), although the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929).

References

  1. 1 2 McIlvaine, E., Sherby, L.S. and Heineman, J.H. (1990) P. G. Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist. New York: James H. Heineman, pp. 95–96. ISBN   087008125X
  2. ↑ "Ice in the Bedroom – Annotations". Madame Eulalie. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.