''Ice in the Bedroom'' is a novel by

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jee ...

, 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 Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on October 15, 1961 by Herbert Jenkins, London.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. It features several Wodehouse characters from earlier books, including Drones Club members Freddie Widgeon and

Oofy Prosser The following is an incomplete list of fictional characters featured in the books and stories of P. G. Wodehouse, by series, in alphabetical order by series name. Due to overlap between the various classifications of Wodehouse's work, some cha ...

, 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 ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. Meanwhile, in the normally quiet suburb of

Valley Fields Valley Fields is a 1,750-seat outdoor stadium and practice facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, primarily used by the varsity men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams at Marquette University, all of which compete in the Big East Conference. The co ...

, 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 ''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''.Mc ...

'' (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 ''Uncle Dynamite'' is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 October 1948 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 29 November 1948 by Didier & Co., New York.McIlvaine (1990), pp. 82–83, A68. It fe ...

'' and ''

Galahad at Blandings ''Galahad at Blandings'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 31 December 1964 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York under the title ''The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood'', and in the United Kingdom on 26 Au ...

''), which is largely owned by

. 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 ''Star Weekly'' magazine was a Canadian periodical published from 1910 until 1973. The publication was read widely in rural Canada where delivery of daily newspapers was infrequent. History Formation The newspaper was founded as the ''Toronto ...

'', the weekend magazine supplement of the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' newspaper. The dust jacket of the first edition (US) was designed by Paul Bacon.

References

External links

The Russian Wodehouse Society's page
with a list of characters {{P. G. Wodehouse Novels by P. G. Wodehouse English novels 1961 British novels Works originally published in Canadian newspapers Novels set in London Herbert Jenkins books British comedy novels