[Andrew Tillet, Sara Wiggins & Inspector Wyatt 06] • The Case of the Frightened Friend

Andrew Tillet and Inspector Wyatt help a friend whose father has mysteriously died, whose grandfather is a complete invalid, and who has reason to suspect others in the family of wrongdoing.

"The properly frightened friend, in this latest outing with the Baker Street Irregulars, is Andrew Tillett's schoolmate Benedict Cortland III—whose father has recently drowned, whose grandfather has just had a stroke. ""If I don't come back at the end of the holiday,"" he says to Andrew, ""will you look into it?"" Cortland knows of Andrew's link to Inspector Peter Wyatt of Scotland Yard; and Inspector Wyatt soon hears of Cortland. Less immediately involved is Third Irregular Sara, about to appear in a play with Andrew's actress mother—but lots of intriguing on-stage and off-stage action will ensue. At Cortland's, his stepmother is chilly, his paralyzed grandfather obviously troubled, eager to answer Andrew's one-blink/two-blink questions. A specialist, who bluffs his way in at Wyatt's bidding, doubts that he's had a stroke; through a fire ruse, another Wyatt emissary manages his removal to a hospital. Meanwhile, Andrew and Wyatt have been stopping in at the Admiralty: Benedict Cortland II had been a naval aide in Germany at his sudden death; Benedict Cortland I, aware that his son was onto something, had just returned from investigating the death. . . . It all winds up, dramatically enough, on stage. And, along with lots of atmospheric old-London detail, there's a little leftover business involving big-time Picadilly pickpockets. Stylish and deft, as usual." —*Kirkus Reviews*, March 9, 1984