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Blandings - the logo of www.blandings.org.uk, the Companion to the works of P G Wodehouse

The Strange Disappearance of Mr Buxton-Smythe

A short story

Mr Buxton-Smythe, a school master at St. Asterisk's, has gone missing; not the first from that establishment. A fellow teacher, Mr Wright, consults private detective Burdock Rose. After a pound of shag, Rose goes to the school, accompanied by his faithful chronicler Wotsing.

Characters

Mr Burdock Rosea private detective
Wotsinghis sidekick
Theophilus Wrighta school master

Publishing Information

Tales of Wrykyn and Elsewhere
Plum Stones

First published December 1901 in the Public School Magazine.

Notes and Quotes

Grocer Square
- unlike Baker Street, home of Sherlock Holmes, Grocer Square is not on my London map (undoubtedly a pun on Baker Street).

Come down
- in this context, graduated.

Shag
- a type of tobacco.

Horizontal blue bar

Burdock Rose, Wotsing, a pipe of shag - yes, it's a Sherlock Holmes spoof and an odd one at that.