Boon

At the Magistrates Court, the renewal of a gaming licence for the Carrington Club run by Dick Vaughan, is postponed pending further enquiries after a punter in the public gallery alleges that he was cheated by Vaughan. Vaughan does not realise that the ""punter"" is really Rupert Cole, who runs a rival gambling club. Vaughan gets Ken to investigate - if any of his croupiers are cheating, he wants to know before the Gaming Board investigators call on him. Ken spends the evening at the Carrington but sees nothing unusual so he asks Helen to come with him the following night. She soon notices that Jackie, one of the blackjack croupiers, is cheating. Ken pretends to be a writer, researching a university psychology textbook on gambling, in order to gain Jackie's confidence. He challenges her and she admits that she has been persuaded by Cole to cheat and to make sure that she is caught, so that the Carrington will be blamed and will lose its gaming licence. Ken has one of his famous conflicts

A middle-aged couple, Terry and Gill Conroy, driving an expensive Jaguar, break down in a residential street, outside the house owned by George and Irene Boxall. The Boxalls offer them a cup of tea while the Conroys wait for the breakdown truck to arrive. In recompense, Terry Conroy invites the Boxalls to join them at a Tyrolean night. But all is not as it seems. When the Conroys never turn up at the Tyrolean night (which is being held at Woodcote Park), George and Irene become suspicious and ask Ken for help. A mysterious young woman, Meryl Spicer, turns up at Woodcote Park, looking for Helen. She claims to be Helen's long-lost daughter whom Helen had given away for adoption (!) It turns out that the Conroys used the Tyrolean invitation simply as an excuse to get the Boxalls out of their house, with Meryl at Woodcote Park to alert the Conroys as soon as the Boxalls leave to come home. The reason for this subterfuge is that Tom Vallance, a bank robber, had hidden some plans in the Boxa

Robert Messener employs Ken to act as his bodyguard and chauffeur, and to run various errands associated with the sale of his house and his nightclub, in preparation for a hasty departure to Cyprus. Messener's previous minder, Freddy Tucker, had walked out on him after being beaten up. Ken is suspicious. He wonders why Messener is leaving so suddenly and why everyone hates him. When Messener's dogs are shot, he tells Ken that he suspects Sammy Robinson, a ""madman"" who used to work for him but who is now in prison for manslaughter, for which he blames Messener. Ken traces Sammy's ex-wife, Natalie, who tells him that Sammy accused Messener of having an affair with her. Messener had got Sammy to beat up a rival night-club owner - who later died. It is Sammy's brothers who are responsible for killing the dogs and for crushing Messener's car. Sammy is due out of prison in a few days and his brothers think he will want Messener disposed of. Messener completes a deal with Douglas Cruikshank f

Ken and Harry are guarding Tinkerbell, a greyhound, at Woodcote Park, before her big race. The owner, Mr Hancock, insists that Tinkerbell must be fed ""Mr Marrow"" dog food and a detailed record must be kept of how much of it she eats. Harry gets Rocky to feed and walk the dog, and it soon becomes clear that Tinkerbell hates ""Mr Marrow"". An attractive blonde woman turns up at Woodcote, delivering cases of wine in a Range Rover. While Harry and Rocky are helping to unload the wine, she drives off with Tinkerbell. Harry and Rocky try to trace the owner of the Ranger Rover. Then Rocky has an idea: there is going to be a charity event before the greyhound race - perhaps the dog thieves will be there. They locate the car and follow it back to an opulent house owned by a Mr and Mrs Hipkiss who claim to own Tinkerbell. Mr Hipkiss tells them that Hancock used to work for him but wasn't up to the job. Hipkiss believes that Hancock had stolen Tinkerbell in revenge for (as he sees it) being sacked

Ken is employed by the owners of a nursing home to investigate a series of petty thefts of patients' money. Because of pressure of work, he passes the case to Harry who goes to stay at the nursing home, posing as a businessman suffering from stress and a nervous breakdown. Laura also helps, posing as Harry's gushing and utterly spoilt daughter! After eliminating the cleaner and the gardener, Harry soon suspects Mary Foster, an eccentric old lady who is a long-term patient. He marks a wad of 5 notes and leaves them in his bedside drawer. They soon disappear and Harry finds them in Mary's handbag. He presents his findings to the Matron, telling her that he has traced the thief. Much to his surprise, the Matron herself confesses to the thefts. She has been taking the money to give to Mary, in order to perpetuate a white lie - Mary thinks that her son, living in New Zealand, is paying for little treats on her birthday, whereas in fact the son died two years ago and the Matron hasn't the he

Mr and Mrs Sheridan, parents of Isobel, a university student studying Art History, ask Ken to investigate why their daughter has changed and why she suddenly seems to be suspiciously wealthy. Ken talks to her former boyfriend, Geoff, and learns that she used to be very keen on rowing but then suddenly gave it up a year ago and now has a new set of friends. Laura and Rocky go undercover, posing as students. They see Isobel and a friend, Dominique, all dolled-up and getting into a brand new flashy convertible. They follow her to a hotel. When Rocky sees the women leaving a hotel bedroom after a little while, and an Italian man gratefully handing over money, he jumps to the obvious conclusion - that they are on the game! Then, outside Isobel's room, Laura finds syringes and a note referring to poppies - perhaps she is a drug dealer. What should Ken tell her parents? Ken eventually discovers that Isobel is selling her essays to less able students - with the knowledge of her tutor, Dr Micha

As he is driving along a country lane towards Woodcote Park, Harry sees a racing cyclist being harassed by a souped-up car. The cyclist, Ian, turns out to be Helen's nephew. He is staying at Woodcote Park while he trains for a road-race through the centre of Nottingham. Greg Simpson, the manager of a racing team, is pressuring Ian to leave his present team and to join Greg's. He threatens to publish a letter which proves that Ian once conspired to fix the result of a race by letting a friend win. Harry uncovers proof that Greg's soignier (team doctor) is prescribing drugs to addicts; this would not go down too well with the sponsors of Greg's team, a health-food company. Faced with a clear case of stalemate, Greg realises that he cannot win and backs down. Ken is asked to trace the author of love letters written to Barbara Lake. They are apparently from her husband, Ronnie, a bank robber - but he died in a plane crash six months ago... Either he is still alive or else the letters are c

The Bisons, a secret society similar to the Freemasons, is holding its meeting at Woodcote Park. Large amounts of alcohol are consumed. On the way home, one of the Bisons, Derek Donaghue, is stopped for drink-driving. Helen asks Rocky to take some of her chairs to sell at an antique shop. Roxanne, the shop assistant, realises that he knows nothing about antiques and rips him off. He and Helen come up with a plan to get his own back. He invites Roxanne for a slap-up dinner at Woodcote, then disappears while pretending to book them a room for the night. Helen makes Roxanne pay the bill! Ken receives a peremptory phone call to meet a potential client, Vincent Brack. Brack wants Ken to watch his wife, Nina. Ken follows Nina to a pub where she changes into a tarty dress and blonde wig, and leaves without Ken realising. The following day he is ready for her and follows her to a club where he discovers that she works as a hostess and singer, using the name Susie. Suspecting the worst, Ken get

Helen is hosting a party for Argentinian polo players at Woodcote Park. She falls for Raoul Gomez, a suave Argentinian. Aiden Curtis, the husband of one of the English guests, asks Ken to watch his wife Merrily (!) who is ""terribly easily influenced"", meaning that he knows every man in the room fancies her and that he thinks she is having an affair. Ken follows her and uncovers a conspiracy between her, a local vet, David Rennet, and one of the Argentinian polo players, Celestino da Silva. Merrily's horse, Deauville Dancer, is infertile but Rennet has signed a certificate stating that it is in perfect health. She ""sells"" the horse to da Silva, thus establishing its value so that the insurance company will pay out when, six months from now, Rennet ""has no choice"" but to have it destroyed. She arranges to return da Silva's money when the insurance company pays up, but instead she leaves him as the owner of an infertile horse and disappears by plane with his money, accompanied by another

Ken is employed by Amelia Woods, a secretary at a local meat-processing factory, to investigate why various dictation tapes and letters go missing from the office and then re-appear a few days later. He soon learns from Bert and Joe, two of the drivers, that there is something very suspicious about the firm - strange late-night deliveries from Amsterdam that don't go through the books and are treated differently from the rest of the stock. And it seems that the owner, Mr Sandford, and his son-in-law, Trevor, are involved. Helped by Laura and Rocky, Ken stages a road accident to hold up the lorry containing the special cargo and they take one of the boxes back to Woodcote. Having thawed it out, they discover, hidden underneath the bacon, pornographic magazines and videos. ""Can you get that muck out of here. I find it extremely upsetting,"" Helen wails. Meanwhile, Harry and Helen are invited to a jousting tournament by a local businessman, Ben Seymour, and become mixed up in a bout of riv

Harry is making plans to sell his stake in Woodcote Park because it is losing money. He is thinking of buying ""Hugo's"", a nightclub and disco, but is warned off by a ruthless Scottish businessman, Vic Carpenter, who also wants to buy it. Eventually Harry and Helen sell Woodcote so it can be turned into timeshare apartments. Ken is seriously considering moving to Texas with Rebecca Patterson. Rebecca reveals that she is over in England to divorce her estranged husband, Terry. Having stolen nearly 100 thousand from his family firm, Terry had fled to America and married Rebecca. However five years later he has now left her and returned to England. Although he has been hiding from his brother since then, Ken reasons that he will come to his father's funeral. Ken arranges to meets him at Sneinton Windmill late at night for him to sign the divorce papers. However Rebecca turns up and, shouting ""Nobody walks out on me"", shoots Terry... dead! For a while, Ken is accused by the police of being