Tales of Hartwell House is a series of fictional short stories by John W. Pritchett about an eclectic family in rural Northern Virginia during the mid-twentieth century. The primary characters are Jerry, the proprietor of the estate, and his dependable butler, James.

No murders, no vampires, no end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenarios. But plenty of predicaments. Most stories have James — the competent valet ‘Jeeves’ to Jerry’s wealthy ‘Bertie Wooster’ — resolving a crisis such as a mysterious threat, missing securities, the potential exposure of a family secret, a battered woman, a delinquent nephew, or the discovery of a child’s grave in a rose garden.

As with the P.G. Wodehouse series about Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, the stories are light and entertaining with upbeat endings. Whereas Bertie narrates the Wodehouse stories, Hartwell House tales are in the third person.

Bachelor Jeremiah (“Jerry”) Abbott Hartwell resides at Hartwell House, near the Town of Berkeley, a former grand mansion on a large, farmed homestead, served by:

• James Biddlecomb, the dependable butler, chauffer, golf caddie, and vegetable gardener.

• Minerva Overton, the forgetful, cantankerous housekeeper.

• Cornelia Sadler, the bright, dependable cook.

Jerry is often found at the Hickory Hills Country Club golf course or its Oakwood Room bar, where members seek him out to share the gossip of the day or regale him with tiresome stories to which no one else will listen.

He is joined by niece Lavinia Mason, newly wed to Tolliver Graydon, a traveling salesman for a wholesale dry goods merchant with offices in Richmond and D.C.

Lavinia’s mother, Agnes Mason (Jerry’s sister), and husband Michael Mason live in Washington, D.C. with teenage sons Timmy and Tommy.

Iris Clement, a cousin of Jerry and Agnes, and her husband David Clement are in Richmond.

As described in Chapter I:

Three gray stone chimneys watched over Hartwell House, a two-story white frame farmhouse with front and rear airy verandas and a red tin roof. An ancient, vigilant weathervane in the form of a rooster creaked with each change in the wind.

The idle tobacco curing barn, stables, rose garden, and corn crib had fallen into disrepair from neglect. The carriage house garaged the maroon-colored Packard, while the henhouse still retained its function of producing eggs for the kitchen.

Carolina Avenue in the nearby fictional town of Berkeley is the locale of various scenes: an Esso station, Lil’s Diner, LeBlanc’s dry goods emporium, Berkeley Bank and Trust, Jennings Funeral Parlor, an A&P, Berkeley Public Library, Hardaway’s Billiard Parlor, and a Western Union Office.

Here are the chapter titles to-date and the approximate number of words.