A collection of vintage thrillers from popular crime writer RD Wingfield

Well known as the creator of Inspector Jack Frost, RD Wingfield scripted numerous twisty, suspenseful dramas for BBC Radio between 1968 and 1995. Many of the thirteen tales in this collection were originally thought to be lost, but thanks to the diligent efforts of Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle, who tracked down the missing audio, they are once again available to enjoy.

In Cat and Mouse Game, a wealthy woman goes missing, and her husband is suspected of murder. Ambitious security officer Hastler has a lot to lose when a surveillance operation goes wrong in Saturday Roster, and in Nightmare, a killer has escaped from a psychiatric ward and may be returning to the scene of his crime. Blood Money finds a branch manager forced to deal with a ransom demand, while Better Never than Late features a policeman on the brink of retirement determined to crack an unsolved kidnapping case.

Warring colleagues Davenport and Desmond discover the advantages of working together in Compensating Error, and in Slow Fuze, an unexploded bomb proves to be a golden opportunity for Major Derry. The Tenth Anniversary concerns the strange disappearance of a detective inspector exactly a decade after the famous Monkstead murders, Death of the Insured sees a terminally ill private eye hired to find an errant husband, and Balance Brought Forward and The Night They Deliver the Money both focus on bank directors faced with potential disaster. Smiling and Beautiful Death, meanwhile, centres around a concussed motorist, a mysterious midnight funeral and a village full of sinister locals…

Capping off our collection is the six-part serial The Killing Season, written under the pseudonym Arthur Jefferson and set in a sleepy town experiencing an unprecedented Christmas crime wave. Among the casts of these intriguing dramas are Nigel Havers, Frances Jeater, Leslie Sands, Garard Green, Deryck Guyler and Andrew Sachs.

With warm thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle

Cast and credits
Written by RD Wingfield

Contents

Cat and Mouse Game
Saturday Roster
Nightmare
Blood Money
Better Never Than Late
Compensating Error
Slow Fuze
The Tenth Anniversary
Death of the Insured
Balance Brought Forward
The Night They Deliver the Money
Smiling and Beautiful Death
The Killing Season
Written by Arthur Jefferson (pseudonym of R.D Wingfield)

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