Armchair Thriller

"Shall we meet the Queen? " Peter Warmington returns to England after a long spell teaching at a university in South America. Immediately upon his return, he spots an old acquaintance called Juan whom he enthusiastically invites back to his new flat. Unfortunately, he has no inkling that his "friend" is actually a terrorist, who quickly murders his host and assumes his identity in order to carry out a political assassination. But Juan himself does not realise that Warmington's 10 year old daughter is en route to London to spend her holidays with the father she has never seen. When Rachel arrives at the train station, the transit police become concerned when no-one seems to have arrived to collect her. They take her under their wing and send an officer round to her father's flat to investigate. Taken by surprise, Juan manages to bluff his way through the resultant questions when he arrives to collect his "daughter" from the station. Fortunately for him, Rachel does not suspect anything and the only photograph she has of her father is too indistinct to be of any use. Although slightly uneasy about the whole business, the police hand over Rachel to Juan but - as the sergeant asks a constable as they are leaving - "Why did he take his glasses off to look at the photo..?" Arriving back at the flat, Juan introduces Rachel to her "stepmother" Aiyako - in fact another terrorist. Aiyako and another member of the organisation, Hassel, want the girl killed but Juan manages to convince them to continue with the deception as he believes that Rachel is an asset to their mission. The object of that mission soon becomes clear when Juan cheerfully asks the girl "We've been invited to a royal garden party, Rachel...would you like to go?" As preparations for their mission move into full gear, an unexpected complication arises when, appalled, Rachel finds the body of her dead father in the linen closet. Uncertain of who the man is, she manages to leave behind a message for the police when Juan takes her to have a dress fitted for the party. Attempting an escape, she is caught by Juan and taken back to the flat where the three agree that she must be killed after the mission has been completed. However a fourth member, Wormald, disagrees strongly and virtually blackmails the others into allowing him to take Rachel back to her home in Scotland afterwards. Caught in a bind, the "organisation" agrees and Wormald spends a fearful night alone in hiding. As time slips away, the little girl's message is discovered by the police...but it already may be too late, as Rachel, Juan and Aiyako arrive at the royal reception, invitations in hand, ready to meet the Queen... « read less

"Tiiii-na...good dog...Tiiii-na...come heeeerrre..." Edward and Gina Reynolds are an affluent but lonely middle class couple living in Chelsea. Devoted to each other, their other great joy is their white poodle Tina, whom they look upon almost as a child. But a series of unpleasant letters that begin to arrive on a daily basis threaten their cosy lifestyle, with the unknown sender accusing Mr Reynolds of being a "snob" with a "snob dog". Though distressed, they pass the letters off as the work of a crank until their beloved Tina vanishes in the park one night. After searching high and low, they soon discover her fate when another letter arrives and demands 200 pounds for the return of the dog. They acquiesce, and Edward Reynolds leaves the sum between the railings of a fence that evening. But the dog is not returned, and another letter arrives demanding still more money. Turning to the police, Mr Reynolds receives no joy when they fail to take the matter seriously. However a young, ambitious constable named Clarence Duhamel believes he can help the Reynolds and visits their flat with the intention of helping them in his own time. Sadly, unbeknownst to everyone, the dog is already dead - drowned at the hands of a Polish sociopath named Kowajinski. Using confidential information gleaned from his social worker girlfriend Marion, constable Duhamel or "Clarrie" as he is known stumbles across the dognapper and demands the return of the poodle to the Reynolds. However Clarrie does not reckon on the vindictive, bitter nature of Kowajinski, and quickly finds himself outwitted by the old man and accused of taking a bribe. Now under official investigation, Duhamel is pushed into a show of strength as he faces the ire of his police colleagues, who dislike him because of his Cambridge background. One detective in particular - Choley - despises Clarrie, whom he derogatively refers to as "Girlie". Clarrie turns to the Reynolds, whom he feels an affinity with and who begin to look upon him as their own son. Kowajinksi, meanwhile, is released and becomes intent on teaching the interfering constable and his traitor girlfriend a lesson. He begins to watch Susie's flat, and even sends her obscene packages. Enraged, Clarrie trails Kowajinki and beats him so badly that he appears to die. But, in a complete co-incidence, the constable himself is subsequently knifed by football hooligans only a few blocks away, and the thugs escape with the truncheon Clarrie had beaten the old man with. After recovering at the Reynold's, Clarrie faces a new series of accusations surrounding Kowajinsk's death. Despairing and alone, he confides to the Reynolds that he beat the old man to death...but how is he to know that Kowajinski in fact died of strangulation, and that he is in far greater danger than he could ever have imagined? « read less