The Luck of the Bodkins is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 11 October 1935 by Herbert Jenkins, and in the United States on 3 January 1936 by Little, Brown and Company. The two editions are significantly different, though the plot remains the same. The novel was serialised in The Passing Show magazine (UK) from 21 September to 23 November 1935, and this version was published as the UK edition. For its US magazine appearance, in the Red Book between August 1935 and January 1936, Wodehouse re-wrote the story, reducing its length, and this became the US book edition. The story concerns the complicated love life of amiable young Monty Bodkin, the nephew of Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, who had previously appeared in Heavy Weather (1933) employed as the latest in the long line of Lord Emsworth's secretaries. The plot of The Luck of the Bodkins continues in Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin (published 37 years later in 1972). Plot The story takes place on an ocean liner, the RMS Atlantic, en route to New York. Monty Bodkin hopes to win back his fiancée Gertrude Butterwick, an England international hockey player travelling to a tournament, who has just ended their engagement without explanation. Their fellow-travellers include Gertrude's cousin Ambrose Tennyson who has accepted a job as a writer for the Superba-Llewellyn film corporation, and Ambrose's younger brother Reggie Tennyson who is being forced by his family to take up an office job in Canada. Also on board are Ambrose's fiancée, Lottie Blossom (a film actress for the Superba-Llewellyn), as well as the movie mogul Ivor Llewellyn (the corporation's president) and Llewellyn's sister-in-law Mabel Spence. Numerous comic misunderstandings occur throughout the novel, many inadvertently due to the well-intentioned ship's steward Albert Peasemarch. Mabel informs Llewellyn that his wife Grayce, currently in Paris, has sent a message telling him that he is to smuggle her new pearl necklace through US customs to avoid paying duty. Too afraid of his wife to refuse, Llewellyn frets about the risks for several days, his concern heightened by the erroneous belief that Monty is a spy working for the customs authorities. He tries to bribe Monty by offering him an acting job, but Monty hates acting and refuses. Gertrude explains that she broke off her engagement after seeing a photograph of Monty in swimming costume, believing his "Sue" chest tattoo to