Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Fear and Trembling’s - Michael Gilbert

Theme: Queen’s Quorum Titles

Story: Fear and Trembling’s
Author: Michael Gilbert
Source: Game Without Rules (Queen’s Quorum #124), Crimes Across The Sea.
Story Number: 66
Arthur Trembling is the owner of one of the best known travel agencies in Europe and his brother Henry is a secondhand bookseller. The other characters in this drama are the cheerful courier Roger, Arthur’s beautiful secretary (and mistress) Lucilla and the newly appointed employee Caversham. Arthur requests Caversham to deliver a thick parcel to his brother Henry – which C suspects are books which have been received from one of the tour group which has just returned. Lucilla, after being jilted by her boss, approaches Caversham and requests his help to expose Arthur – she believes that Arthur has been smuggling something with the help of the tour buses which have a specially concealed compartment. C decides to guard the bookshop after Arthur leaves the office and Lucilla decides to open the safe and check the contents as she noticed Arthur transferring something from the parcel received earlier. They plan to meet later in the night and compare notes – but when C meets her, she is dead in the passenger seat of her car - parked in his driveway!
Caversham drives the car to a remote location, gets back to his house and puts in an anonymous call to the police. The next day, when he is patiently waiting for the police to turn up at the office, C comes across the body of Arthur! There are a string of surprises towards the ends – with spies galore - nobody is who he or she is portrayed to be – with each country’s agency playing their own deadly game of espionage and counter espionage!

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