The Pothunters

Wodehouse’s first novel, set at St. Austin’s, opens with a sensation: the silver sports cups the school calls its pots vanish from the pavilion the night before the athletic sports. A detective arrives, suspicion falls in awkward directions, and the boys carry out investigations of their own between cross-country runs and cricket practice. Around the theft Wodehouse weaves the ordinary business of school life, a gated boy sneaking out, house rivalries, and the eternal gap between masters and pupils. It reads more like a straightforward boys’ adventure than his mature work, but the easy, good-humored voice that would make him famous is already unmistakable. Offered here free as a PDF and EPUB edition.