The Accidental Assassin
by Jan Toms
Victor Green is 37, unmarried and works at the tax office. He lives alone and is the sort of man who irons his underpants. When Victor receives a letter from the council telling him to prune a lime tree in his front garden, he is anxious to oblige, although he is not much of a gardener and does not like heights. A disgruntled pigeon startles him and he falls from the tree, landing on a passer by. It takes a while for the police to discover that the victim is Tommy Hewson, a gangster generally known as Gruesome. The local paper misprints Victor's name, calling him Vincent Green, the name used by international hit-man Vincenzo Verdi. Expecting a turf war, two local gangs, the Pretty Boys and the Blues Brothers, embark on a campaign of destruction - both calling on the helpless Victor/Vincent to help. Inheriting Grusome's poodle, Fluffy, dubbed the Angle of Death, and pursued by a policeman's daughter, Victor's life is turned upside down. Making friends and enemies along the way,...