Classic thriller-writer Dornford Yates does comedy, and he can. This collection of stories, soufflé-light, concerns a small mob of the brightest and youngest of those bright young things we've all heard so much about from the roaring 'twenties. They're Varsity types with their gals: witty, beautiful, full of the joys. The language, too, is beautiful, full as it is of literary allusion and echoes of the classics, Biblical cadences and the slang of the public school. Think Jeeves, Stalky, Brideshead revisited with laughs.

If, in these days, our people could only be bothered to express themselves thus, Life, I think, would be a finer thing. I loved Jonah & Co., especially, actually, in the less obviously comical moments, such as a lyrical, moving description of the stained glass at Chartres; but even I would acknowledge that yes, you do sorta kinda have to be in the mood, like, innit. ( )

Best car chase ever read ( )

Yates rote bo humor and adventure stories. This series is more humor though it has some adventure. ( )

Classic thriller-writer Dornford Yates does comedy, and he can. This collection of stories, soufflé-light, concerns a small mob of the brightest and youngest of those bright young things we've all heard so much about from the roaring 'twenties. They're Varsity types with their gals: witty, beautiful, full of the joys. The language, too, is beautiful, full as it is of literary allusion and echoes of the classics, Biblical cadences and the slang of the public school. Think Jeeves, Stalky, Brideshead revisited with laughs.

If, in these days, our people could only be bothered to express themselves thus, Life, I think, would be a finer thing. I loved Jonah & Co., especially, actually, in the less obviously comical moments, such as a lyrical, moving description of the stained glass at Chartres; but even I would acknowledge that yes, you do sorta kinda have to be in the mood, like, innit. ( )