Your Humble Blogger spent more than half of Fish Preferred (aka Summer Lightning) trying to remember whether this was the first time through or a reread. I had read the plot before, and the setting, and the characters, but were they all in this book?
I eventually concluded that I had not, because I would have remembered that Lady Constance asks Baxter to help her steal something, which is altogether wrong and out of character for both of them. Lady Constance should not steal. Her sister Julia, perhaps, would go so far, but not Constance. And if one were to take something that doesn’t belong to one, surely Baxter would be the last person to include in your illegal schemes. Catching a thief, yes, exposing an imposter (do you think in that last unfinished Blandings book, it would have turned out that Lord Emsworth was an imposter the whole time? It really would have capped the whole parade of impostures that were a regular part of life at Blandings, not to say Life at Blandings, as much as the roses and the pig), certainly, perhaps even a spot of threatening and extortion, in dire need, but not burglary. Not in his skill set. Not in his comfort zone. Not in his make-up.
Ah, well. My other observation is that I find it impossible to keep track of the Threepworth family, and in particular the ages of the various people. It turns out (according to Blandings, a fan site) that there were thirteen siblings of Clarence’s generation, so it makes sense that he has a seemingly infinite number of nieces and nephews. Also, it would make sense that Clarence seems so much older than (some of) his siblings, and that he seems more like a grandfather than an uncle to some of the nieces and nephews. It’s possible that if I read all the Blandings Castle books in order before looping back again that I would hold it in my head for longer, but I think I’d rather just keep reading Leave it to Psmith and stay muddled.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.