This is the Lovecraft/Wodehouse parody I
mentioned,
a couple of months ago. I wanted to dig into it immediately on arrival,
naturally, but I restrained myself because I wanted to see if I could
turn the silly bit from the above link into a full-length story. I got
a fair ways, then ran out of gas. And then, a few days ago, I really
needed something to distract me from Russian Bride, of which
you’ll hear more in the next day or so. And Scream for Jeeves
was just sitting there, and, well, here we are.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is, the book really is
genuinely funny. It contains three Jeeves and Bertie stories, each of which follows
the classic pattern: an old friend of Bertie’s requires his help–well,
Jeeves’ help, really–and Bertie clusters round, Jeeves saving the day.
The author has Bertie Wooster’s narrative style down pat.

At the same time, each story is a retelling of a classic Lovecraft tale,
with admixtures from various others.
And here’s the first bit of bad news: the three Lovecraft tales are
“The Rats in the Walls”, “Cool Air”, and “The Case of Charles Dexter
Ward”. The first of the three is one of my favorites, but I fear
I’ve never much cared for the other two, and that was a disappointment.
I had visions of Bertie vacationing in the shadowy town of Innsmouth:
“A bit scaly, what, Jeeves? I mean to say, you’d think they were
all French.” “Indeed, sir, the residents do seem to have a batrachian
aspect.” But no, it was not to be.

One gag that’s repeated in each story is a conversation between Bertie
and one of the other characters in which the other character speaks in
dark purple Lovecraftian prose and Bertie is simply himself. The
difference in style is quite funny–for awhile. The other character
never responds to Bertie’s inanities, indeed, never seems to notice them.

On the other hand, there are some really good bits; I rather liked the
idea of Bertie Wooster and Charles Dexter Ward treating Erich Zann to some
old Broadway showtunes. Plus, there are some neat illustrations by
J.C. Eckhardt.