Title: Midsummer Mink
First published: 1965
Description: BRIGADIER RAYNE: distinguished, elderly. TED: a policeman, gullible, young. MIKE: Irish, a silver-tongued rougue; 20s. CHRIS: ferrety, crooked; middle-aged. ALICE, LADY MILLER: elegant; middle-aged. NANETTE PARRY: gaunt, enthusiastic; middle-aged. ELIZABETH HATFIELD: bird-like; indeterminate age. DAME BEATRICE APPLEBY: vital, mercurial; late middle-age. LILY THOMPSON: cheery, practical, cockney; 20s. MADAME CHAMBERT: smart, brusque; 40. DETECTIVE INSPECTOR (MISS) WILSON: pleasant, brisk; 30. The amiable aristocratic crooks of BREATH OF SPRING are at it again. BRIGADIER RAYNE deploys his charity campaigns with military expertise but little monetary success until NAN is passed a mink coat by a crook on the run. This inspires BRIGADIER RAYNE and his cohorts to become modern Robin Hoods, and soon they are running a meticulously organised receiving system for stolen furs, giving all their profits to charity. Gradually, operations become more and more dangerous. Finally, with the house full of furs, hidden in musical-instrument cases 'borrowed' from the Albert Hall, and a police inspector making enquiries, they decide to retire - temporarily.
LC classification: PR6005.O216 M5