Cryptically, after the judgement has been read out, the attorney ignores his clients and shakes the hand of the inspector leading the police investigation, who angrily brushes it off saying that he hopes the QC is proud of himself: they killed that old man and thanks to him they would be at liberty to repeat their crimes.

And sure enough, a few weeks later, the bodies of the two men are found at the bottom of a lake, strangled by piano wire, in a case that is eventually closed as "unsolved": the justice referred to by the QC was not that of the Old Bailey but of the Old Testament.

A down-on-his-luck actor whose career has been made up of never-ending bit parts decides to sell an antique oil painting left to him by a great-aunt, who had worked as a housekeeper in a stately home.

On a long flight from Thailand to London, the world of drug trafficking sends threads through the skies as three different passengers in three different sections suspect each other of carrying the dangerous contraband

[6] Christopher Petit reckoned Forsyth was a relic of bygone times, calling it "polished and moribund as a joke at an after-dinner speech, with a ponderous twist, a punchline and a little moral to tie it all up".