Uneasy Money is a romantic comedy by P.G. Wodehouse, published during the First World War, it offers light escapism. More romantic but only a little less humorous that his mature works, it tells of the vicissitudes of poor Lord Dawlish, who inherits five million dollars, but becomes a serially disappointed groom.

When the story opens Bill (Lord Dawlish, a thoroughly pleasant man) is engaged to a demanding actress. Aristocratic but poor, he receives a large legacy from a stranger whose tendency to “slice” (a common error in golfing) he once cured on a West Country golf course. His first worry is disappointed relatives. However, a trip to the USA to return the worrying windfall adds complication to complication. Firearms and burglaries, as well as the usual human misunderstandings that accompany any human life, begin to blight Bills’ existence.

Uneasy Money was first published as a serial in the Saturday Evening Post in the USA from December 1915, and in the UK in Strand Magazine starting December 1916. It first appeared in book form on March 17, 1916 by D. Appleton & Co., New York, and later in the UK (on October 4, 1917) by Methuen & Co., London.

A silent, black-and-white film version was made in 1918.

M4B audio book available