Whalley's Revenge

Latin master “PJ” Whalley has shelved his retirement as a favour to ex-employer, The Wesley Leklerk Preparatory School for Boys. Form 8B gleefully mark the lovably naive PJ’s return with countless inventive pranks involving, inter alia, a mad cat, a joke turd, PJ the zoo exhibit, and a classroom stripper: throughout, PJ’s conceit that he is shrewdly in control seldom wavers. Elsewhere, a mousy female awakens uxorial thoughts in PJ before vanishing - along with valuable jazz 78s and stamp albums. Happily, PJ’s colleague Alwoodley, a computing whiz, uncovers her electronic footprint, and the goods are retrieved. But a darker scam ensnares PJ the author. He falls victim to a crooked literary agent who, after pocketing 11 monthly payments, suddenly finds a publisher. PJ smells a rat. Alwoodley steps in again; and after much internet sleuthing he tracks down the agent’s long history of fraud, and the publisher’s true identity. PJ’s money is grudgingly paid back: Whalley’s Revenge indeed!