Sir Charles Vandrift, ruthless South African diamond mogul,
meets his match in Colonel Clay. Masquerading as a Mexican Seer, Clay, with
little more than a few parlour conjurings, makes away with five thousand pounds
of Vandrift’s fortune. And Clay’s not finished, he’ll swindle Vandrift to his
last pound. After all, how can Vandrift fight a master of disguise, a hawk who
can be anyone and anywhere?
The series in a line: Gentleman swindler cons a millionaire
over and over again. Sounds repetitive, doesn’t it, twelve stories performing the
same dance. But Allen avoids stagnation by differentiating the stories just
enough. Of course the stories have a formula, but they never descend to the
formulaic. In each story Allen introduces one or two new characters – It
doesn’t take a mystery aficionado to spot the criminal. But the unmask never
hogs the climax. Allen doesn’t tease and hint at where, oh where, is that
damned Colonel Clay. He focusses on the con, rather, on how that magnificent
bastard Clay will swindle that petty bastard Vandrift.
