Ukridge

Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge is not one of Wodehouse's better known creations, but he's one of the most disreputable. Ukridge is forever on the lookout to make a quick buck, either from staging accidents to claim on the insurance, starting dog training schools or managing the boxer "Battling" Billson.

Ukridge has his very own Boswell, journalist "Corky" Corcoran who finds himself frequently roped into Ukridge's outlandish schemes as well as lending him money he never sees again.

Although a bit of a change from the world of Jeeves and Blandings, this couldn't be the work of anyone else, particularly given the looming presence of Ukridge's novelist aunt who, like all Wodehouse aunts, is not a woman to be trifled with! Like many Wodehouse protagonists, Ukridge is also liable to be swept off his feet at any moment, albeit in a very innocent way.

If you're looking for comfort reads, you really can't go far wrong with Wodehouse's delicious prose, of which this is a fine example.